A Complicated Space-Time Event, or Growing Up Is Hard To Do
by TheDoctorAndSarah
Summary: Just over ten years ago, Sarah Jane found a man with no memory bleeding on her doorstep. Three children later, life may have settled down a little too much for her liking. But the universe has ways of righting things like that. Follows on from "The Long Road Home" and "Five Doctors and a Baby". SJ, John, Harry, Jack, Brig, and ... ?
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, it seems like forever, but here we are with the next installment of this series, which started when Sarah Jane found a man with no memory bleeding on her doorstep. Torchwood is convinced he's the Doctor, but he's human - perhaps too human. If you want to go back and catch up before we give away any spoilers, you can read the following stories: "The Long Road Home," "Be Careful What You Wish For", and "Five Doctors and a Baby". For those of you who aren't worried about spoilers and just want to be caught up, here's what's happened since we started:**

**Several months after "Hand of Fear", Sarah Jane found a man with no memory bleeding on her doorstep. He took the name John Tinker, and married her, partly to cover the fact that she was carrying the Doctor's baby, but mostly because he fell madly in love with her, and she for him. Torchwood, convinced that John is the Doctor (based on a sketch they have from 1877), kidnapped and tortured him nearly to death, but Jack rescued him and is now acting as a double-agent, pretending to keep tabs on the mystery man while really protecting the Tinker family. Now Sarah Jane has given birth to the Doctor's baby - and two more, besides. But Sarah Jane Smith has never been one to settle down completely.**

**A few notes for those who are just joining us: this series follows a couple of rules. First, despite what you may think, it is NOT an alternate universe story. Everything that happens is consistent with what you see on-screen in Doctor Who (but NOT necessarily SJA). Also, we list the 10th Doctor as one of the characters because he will show up eventually. As for the definition of "eventually", well, that's up for debate.**

**Normally we post on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but due to heavy RL workload, this story will post ONLY on Wednesday mornings. (Take heart, however; we never start posting a story until the first draft is done - hence the long delay - so you can count on consistent publishing.)**

**Thanks so much for sticking with us this far; we really appreciate all of your feedback, and couldn't do this without it.**

**By the way, we will be heading to FandomFest in Louisville, Kentucky next week (July 25-28 2013), so if anybody is going to be there too, please contact us if you'd like to get together, we'd love to meet you!**

**And now, Alons-y!**

**Ealing, UK - Summer, 1988**

Sarah Jane Tinker ran to the back door of her home, laughing, the sounds of happy splashing behind her as she headed into the kitchen for more of the fruit punch and iced tea she'd stocked up on the night before. It was a beautiful summer day, perfect for a party, and from the sounds of children screaming with glee it seemed obvious that everyone was enjoying themselves. She heard the door open once more and turned to see her Aunt Lavinia smiling at her.

"Need any help, Sarah Jane?"

"Actually yes, thanks, could you grab that box of napkins and the paper cups next to it? I have all I can do to carry these pitchers out."

"It really is the perfect birthday party," Lavinia said. "You couldn't have chosen a better day for it, either." She picked up the napkins and paper cups. "Now if we can just keep everyone out of the cake, we'll be in business."

Sarah heard shouting and barking. She looked outside and saw Jack chasing John with a huge squirt gun, Faraday the Golden Retriever chasing both of them with obvious delight.

What she could see from the kitchen window that Jack couldn't, however, was that John's run was a diversion - or more accurately, a trap - and that Harry was lying in wait with John and Sarah's two young sons, ten-year-old Luke and five-year-old Sid. The moment Jack came around the corner, they would catch him off-guard and drench him with the garden hose. She laughed and shook her head. "We better hurry up with this, our team needs us. There's a war going on, you know," she said, adding mock gravitas.

Just as they came outside, Jack rounded the corner to see Harry and the boys. Too late to change course, he instead acted as though the icy water was machine-gun fire, making exaggerated cringing movements and falling to the ground as the boys giggled.

John staggered back to Harry and the boys, barely able to catch his breath because he was laughing so hard. "Go get him," he said to his sons, and the two boys, who each looked to be about five years old, dropped the hose and jumped on their Uncle Jack, who began tickling them mercilessly.

"Don't worry," John said to Harry, who, despite being engulfed in laughter himself, looked a bit concerned, "I'm fine. More than fine."

And he was; it had been ten years since Luke's birth, and despite everything else that had gone on in that time, he looked over at his family and friends and didn't think he could have been any happier.

Meanwhile, three-year-old Lisa Ann squealed with delight as she saw her mum and her aunt head out the door. "Mum, Auntie, they've got Uncle Jack, come save him!"

Sarah and Lavinia put the drinks and things down and grabbed their squirt guns. They ran up to the two boys and aimed their 'weapons' at them. "Surrender or be fired upon, gentlemen," Sarah said in the most menacing voice she could summon under the circumstances.

"Yay," shouted Lisa Ann, jumping up and down with excitement.

"Not today ladies," said John, Harry and John Benton in unison. They readied their guns, prepared for victory.

Suddenly from out of nowhere, water balloon bombs dropped out of the sky and pelted the three men. They looked up to find the source.

Then they saw him, leaning out from a second floor window, a tall man with a mustache.

"You seem to be forgetting one more member of the red team," the Brigadier said, a superior smile across his face as he picked up the Cosmic Liquidator water gun John had "improved" and started firing huge streams of water at the entire blue team. "My compliments," he said to a dripping wet John when the toy's tank was empty, "on your contribution to the state of hydro-weaponry."

He turned to his fourteen-year-old daughter, who'd been handing him loaded water balloons. "You see, Tiger? Science always leads." This was a good day for the two of them - for a change. Lately their relationship had been growing more and more strained. Her mother Fiona had divorced him because he was never home; now it seemed that no matter how he tried to make up the time with Kate and be a good father, it was never enough. But still, he had to try.

Kate flashed a rare smile at him and then down at their opponents. "Looks like science wins this time, gentlemen."

"Come down here and say that," John shouted up at them as he wiped his eyes so he could see, his own water gun at the ready.

But the Brig and Kate had already disappeared from the window, and when they came downstairs, everyone was too busy laughing to continue the battle.

And so it was like any other birthday party, for any other child, on any other Saturday afternoon. John grilled hamburgers and frankfurters, the children continued to splash each other, and eventually, with the war ended, a truce declared, and no clear winner, everyone gathered for birthday cake and ice cream.

Luke smiled hopefully at Kate as she stood by her father. He had been watching her - but trying not to look like he was watching her - since she had first arrived at the party. He was too embarrassed to tell anyone, but he wanted desperately for Kate to like him as much as he liked her.

He'd found himself fantasizing about her quite a lot since he first met her several months ago, and felt awkward being around her. On the other hand, he liked the fact that she had been asked to babysit for his younger siblings a few times when his mum and dad had gone out and Uncle Jack couldn't come. She wasn't like everyone else; she treated him like an equal and not a child.

Luke walked over to John, who was looking over the entire scene. "Dad, can I ask you a really serious question?"

John sat down and gave Luke all of his attention. "Sure, son, what is it?"

"Well, it's something really personal and sort of embarrassing."

John looked at his little boy, reminding himself that he was actually ten years old, despite the fact that as a Time Lord, he was growing only half as fast as his siblings. It couldn't be time for "The Talk" already, could it? He decided not to panic until absolutely necessary. "Well, you know that you can ask me anything."

Luke put his head down and almost whispered. "When did you know you were in love with mum?"

John had to strain to hear him, but fortunately he had; he wouldn't have wanted to make Luke repeat it. "I knew right away, actually," he said quietly, then added a conspiratorial "Why?"

Luke squirmed a little before answering. "Don't tell anyone please, but I think I may be in love with someone, but I'm not sure."

John's heart seemed to squeeze a little. Luke was so … young; even if it wasn't The Talk, he wasn't ready for this phase of being a father and guiding his children through the wilderness of love and dating. "Well, that's pretty serious, it's the kind of thing you should be sure about. May I ask who?"

Luke picked his head up and looked into his father's eyes with an almost helpless expression. "It's Kate, dad."

John tried to keep his expression neutral as he nodded. Poor Luke. He knew there was no way she could return his feelings. At least not anytime soon. "I see. Have you talked to her about it?"

Luke shook his head. "Nope."

John nodded again, this time a little relieved. "Well, maybe that's best, since you're not really sure how you feel. I mean, you wouldn't want to get her hopes up, right?"

Luke's eyes lit up. He hadn't thought about that. "You're right, dad, she's ever so nice to me and I never stopped to think that she might like me so much that her feelings could get hurt if I didn't like her back. You really think that she might like me back," his words spilled out. He was so happy he could barely contain himself.

John cringed inside. "That's not quite what I meant." But he could see Luke's happiness, and he didn't want to squash it. "I mean, you said you MAY be in love with someone, but you weren't sure. And that's natural at your age. I mean, you haven't really had any experience with this sort of thing, what if you tell her you're in love with her, but you're not. You could hurt her feelings that way."

"You mean that she could love me so much that if I didn't love her too she'd pine away, like in that movie you and mum watched last week on the telly?" As far as Luke was concerned, this was even better than he had hoped for.

John realized that he was just making things worse. "I just mean that you should take this really slow. I mean, what if she hadn't really thought about it, and then you brought it up and she got all happy about it, but then you dropped her? She'd be hurt. Just take it slow."

Luke sat up straight, he was filled with pride now. "Not to worry dad, I'll go slowly. I would hate to break her heart."

John was torn. The last thing he wanted was for Luke to get hurt, but he just didn't see any way to stop this. He nodded and squeezed his shoulder, trying to smile.

Sarah Jane brought out the cake, five candles burning, and everyone started singing to Sid, Sarah Jane and John's middle child. Next to him, eyeing the cake, sat Lisa Ann, and on his other side, Luke stood next to his father, whose arm was around his shoulder. All the other guests - mostly friends from UNIT, rather than other children - were gathered round the table as Sid leaned over the cake and blew out the candles, everyone applauding raucously.

Sarah Jane watched the scene and smiled. She had never imagined that her life would end up so close to normal - and more than that, that she'd love it that way.

She watched her husband and her children's faces. There was John, the light of her life, with his arm around Luke, who practically worshiped the man he knew to be his father. John, in turn, doted on the boy.

Luke was home schooled, and while Sarah taught him the basics things like English, music, and art, John taught him math, science, physics and astronomy. He was brilliant, and absorbed everything John taught him at almost lightning speed. Luke was always so enthusiastic about learning from John too, it was as if he couldn't learn fast enough. Sometimes John would just get him books to read and then answer Luke's questions.

She wondered what they would do when Luke surpassed both of them. At the rate he was going that would be another two or three years. Perhaps they would just let him be a child prodigy when that happened, and allow him to take college classes. Only time would tell.

Sid, on the other hand, was a typical all-around boy. He went to the local school, and his grades were fairly normal for a child his age, although he was better than average at science. He also loved sports, and was well liked by his fellow classmates for his sense of humor and fair play. Sid was always the first person to speak up for the underdog, and he couldn't tolerate bullying - unless it was him bickering with Luke, as all brothers did, of course.

Then there was Lisa Ann, sitting in her aunt's lap trying her best to wait patiently for a piece of cake. Lavinia was always telling Sarah how much Lisa Ann was like Sarah Jane when she was small. She also told Sarah that seeing her raising Lisa Ann was her reward for raising Sarah Jane. Sarah had to confess, Lisa Ann did have her love of adventure and her curiosity. Sarah always joked that it was a good thing that she was their last child, because if Luke had been the handful her daughter was, he might have been an only child.

There was no denying it, Sarah Jane loved her family. Days like today, with their friends there to enjoy life with them, were wonderful. She looked up for a moment at the night sky. Somewhere out there the Doctor was with a companion and they were saving the universe, being chased by vicious creatures and facing challenges every day. She only hoped that he was as content with his life as she was with hers. Of course, she still missed him and wished she could see him again, but she knew her place was with John and her children, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

The children were racing each other around the garden, and as Lisa Ann slid off Lavinia's lap, Sarah saw her Aunt come over and sit beside her. "Enjoying yourself?" she asked.

Sarah Jane smiled. "Who wouldn't enjoy themselves in this little mini paradise?"

"I can't think of anybody," Lavinia said, staring out onto the birthday party with her. "But is it enough?"

Sarah stopped smiling. "Why would you even ask such a question?"

"Because I've known you since you were born, Sarah Jane. There's something wrong, and I'm pretty sure I know what it is."


	2. Chapter 2

"Well then, Helpful Hannah, maybe you should tell me what's wrong with my life." She was smiling again, but she was anything but pleased.

Lavinia was undeterred. "You're bored. Restless. You're missing all of the adventure and excitement." She held up a hand to stop Sarah from protesting. "Don't think I'm criticising, I'm actually impressed that you've gone this long. If I had to settle down in one place after all the traveling I've done, I don't know how I would handle it."

"Look, I know you mean well, but I'll thank you to remember that I'm not you, Aunt," Sarah said. "As it happens I love my life here with John and the children. I'd go mad without them here with me."

"I'm sure that you would. But one thing about that Doctor fellow of yours, it was all adventure all of the time. And I didn't hear you complaining about that when you came home. Quite the opposite, in fact."

Sarah's face revealed her feelings before she even knew they were there. Yes, when she'd gotten back, she'd felt … lost, and not just because she missed the Doctor. She'd been so used to chasing after things with him that she hadn't known what to do with herself without it. And yet, she wasn't unhappy now, was she? "John's not the Doctor," she told Lavinia. "My life with John is completely different from the one I had before."

"Believe me, Sarah Jane, I'm very well aware of both of those facts. I'm not suggesting that you miss the Doctor, I'm suggesting that you miss the adventure."

Sarah started to protest, but as she opened her mouth to speak, she saw the expression on her aunt's face and she knew there was no hiding it. "You always could read me like a primer, couldn't you? You're right, I do miss the adventure. Well, not all the time, though it would be nice if I could have some excitement in my life without any danger in it. It's just that John isn't the adventurous type, and even if he was, his health wouldn't allow it."

"You've been using John's health as an excuse for years, Sarah Jane. He may not be Mister Universe, but look at him out there playing with the children. He's not as fragile as he was when Luke was born. You could at least go on some sort of holiday. Travel somewhere interesting. You can have adventure without climbing mountains, you know. The Sarah Jane I raised never stayed in one place long enough to lick a stamp. Aside from moving to Ealing, you haven't left home in years."

She thought back on her life. Even before the Doctor came into her life, she'd been as much of a rolling stone as her Aunt. "Maybe you're right. A proper recce might do us all some good. I'll talk to John about it after the party." She stood up and walked over to her aunt to give her a hug. "Thanks for still looking after me, even if I am an adult now."

"We never stop looking after our children, you'll learn that."

Over at the other side of the garden, Jack, meanwhile, noticed a shadow on the sidewalk under the fence. It was Lewiston again, he knew that. He sighed and tried not to let on that he'd noticed.

Despite the fact that he worked for Torchwood, Dewhurst didn't trust Jack; he never had, and he never would. Jack would always be too close to the Doctor for Dewhurst's liking. So it wasn't a surprise that he'd tried to get a little more information when Jack had volunteered, out of the blue, to keep an eye on the Tinkers. Quentin Lewiston wasn't the most inept choice Dewhurst could have made for someone to follow Jack, but it had been almost ten years - plenty of time for Jack to catch on.

Not that he'd ever let on that he knew he was being followed, of course. Instead he just used it as another opportunity to feed Torchwood One in London the information he wanted them to have.

Back by the swings, John came and stood behind Sarah, hugging her while Jack supervised the cutting of the cake. "You all right?"

"Better than alright. I was just thinking about how happy you and our little family make me."

"That's two of us," he said, kissing the back of her ear. "Did you ever think it'd wind up like this when I was lying on your doorstep back in South Croyden?"

Sarah laughed. "Fate is a rather odd thing isn't it? How could I have had any idea that the poor, drenched, bleeding man on the front steps was my future husband and would one day be the father of my children? What about you, when you opened your eyes and saw me did you expect things to end up like this?"

"Absolutely," he said, laughing with her. "I saw that smile looking down at me on the gurney and knew I had to spend the rest of my life with you."

"You're such a sweet talker, you know that, don't you?" Sarah turned and gave him a huge kiss.

John returned the kiss and sat back on the swing, looking over as Luke stared longingly at Kate. "I feel bad for Luke, he's just besotted. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have Kate babysit."

Sarah looked over at her eldest son and nodded. "Yes, he's definitely got a crush on her. That explains his remark last time we went out. He's been under the impression that Kate was there to watch Sid and Lisa. I let him think it was true because it meant so much to him. I'm afraid I didn't realize that I was encouraging the way he feels about Kate.

"Oh John," she continued, "he's growing up and he has the same feelings every young boy his age does. How can we protect him from being hurt because other people, even children, don't understand him? It's been bad enough watching his frustration when he was small. It's just going to get worse as he gets older."

"I know," John said, "and it's hard enough to remember he's 10 now, what are we going to do when he's 18 and he looks like a 9 year old?" He sighed. "Especially when he'll still be acting like a 9 year old, if he keeps going the way he has been." He sighed. "And by then, Sid will be a 'normal' teenager, doing all the things a teenager wants to do." He squeezed his eyes together. "Well, nobody said it was going to be easy."

"I wish I knew what the right thing to do for him was." Sarah put her head on John's shoulder and sighed. "I'm not sure he's old enough yet for us to talk to him about the truth. What do you think he'd do if we told him?"

John sighed. "I don't know. He might take it well on an intellectual level, or he might throw a five-year-old fit. I wish I knew." He hugged her tighter.

"We're in the same boat, John, let's just hope it doesn't sink before we make a decision." She looked over at Luke, who was playing with Sid and didn't seem like he was ten years old at all. "Let's just let it ride for now and deal with the situation as it comes. Better to let it go than to cause him unnecessary heartbreak."

"Agreed," John said. "Considering what we have to tell him, I'm not exactly looking forward to it anyway." He pulled her towards him. "Besides, this is a happy day, remember?"

"You're right darling, as usual." She smiled at him and kissed him once more.

John was returning the kiss when he felt something tapping his leg. "Dad! Dad!" Luke said insistently, "Can we show Kate and Uncle Alistair the hovernator?"

"Eww, Mummy and Daddy were kissing again," said Sid, sticking his tongue out in disgust.

"Can I have some more ice cream please," said Lisa Ann, her mouth covered with a ring of chocolate as she tugged on her mother's slacks. Faraday was sitting next to her, licking blue frosting off of her fingers, his tail thumping loudly.

Sarah shook her head and laughed. "So much for romance, John dear."


	3. Chapter 3

John just smiled and picked up Luke as though he were Tiny Tim, then took Sid in his other arm. "I think it's time for Sid to open his presents, what do you two think?"

"Pressies? Oh yes please," Sid smiled, barely able to contain his excitement. "You know how I love pressies."

As Sid was opening his presents, Luke sidled up to Kate. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Kate gave him a friendly grin. "Of course, I always have time for you, Luke."

Luke smiled and took her hand, guiding her over to the swing set. He sat down and waited for her to sit on the other swing, just as he'd seen his parents do when they wanted to talk. "Do you think I'm weird? Because I'm short, I mean."

"No, of course not." Then she frowned, looking as though she were getting ready to do battle. "Has someone been giving you a hard time about it?"

"No," Luke said, "it's just that you're the only person who treats me like my real age instead of a little kid."

Kate thought about that for a moment. "Well, the way I see that is it's just that people don't usually know any better. Adults who know you like family, take it from me, they're always going to be that way about it. My parents don't even live together but both they still treat me as if I don't know enough to put my coat on if it's cold outside. Honestly, if they had their way, I'd still be in pinafores.

"The ones that don't know you, they don't mean anything by it, they simply don't understand. And kids your own age, most of them are not as mature as you and I are and they can be real thickos about some matters. I would just ignore them if I were you. I still get teased sometimes and I know if you react to that sort of thing, it only makes it worse."

Luke wasn't sure what to make of her reaction. "It's just that... um …" He'd thought this would be easy, that she would just naturally fall into a conversation about how much they loved each other. Now here she was talking about … well, grownups and such. Like she was giving him advice. "... well, never mind. It was silly."

"Listen Luke, if it's important to you then it's not silly. We're friends, aren't we?" She bumped shoulders with him. "You can say anything you want to me."

Luke took a deep breath and decided to jump in. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"There was this one fellow I liked a few months ago, but he's interested in someone else, so no, not at the moment."

"Well … um … I was thinking that … well, maybe if you were interested..." This was turning out to be much harder than he thought. "I mean, we like each other, right?"

Suddenly Kate realized what Luke was saying to her, and she stopped short, unsure what to say. Her father was so protective of Luke, she'd come to think of him as a little brother; the last thing she wanted to do was hurt his feelings. "Uhm, of course we like each other," she said, stalling for time to think.

"Right, that's what I thought," Luke said, feeling emboldened. "So maybe you and I could... you know... be … well, you know."

Suddenly it hit her. She knew the perfect answer. Her mum had told her what to do if something like this happened, but up till now though she had ignored the advice, thinking it was useless, and that her mother couldn't possibly understand the realities of teenage life in the eighties. "Well, I'm not allowed to have a boyfriend yet," she said. "My parents won't let me because they think I'm too young. But we could say that we're special friends. Is that OK with you?"

Luke's hearts leapt; she hadn't said "no"! "Sure," he said, excited. "Definitely!" He jumped off the swing and shook her hand. "Special friends." Then he ran back to the picnic table for a slice of birthday cake.

Kate watched him go and then sighed with relief. Her parents still didn't understand, but maybe her mum, at least, wasn't **completely** clueless.

* * *

By the time Sid had opened his presents and they'd had more dessert, all three children were falling asleep on their feet, the sugar high having given way to the sugar low.

In particular, the excitement of the day had finally gotten to Lisa Ann, who had dozed off shortly after crawling up onto her Uncle Jack's lap. Her head was leaning against his chest and though her breathing was soft, it was clear that she was sleeping quite soundly.

Jack looked at her in the crook of his arm, her mouth slightly open as in a tiny silent snore, and smiled, knowing that he'd played a large part in keeping her little family safe enough for this moment to happen.

Not that the danger had passed, of course; far from it. He knew that later he and the other adults would have their thrice-yearly meeting - conveniently falling on the childrens' birthdays - to see where security stood. But for now, he had a sleeping three-year-old in his arms, and he was going to enjoy it.

Sarah looked over and saw Jack holding her daughter. "It's past bedtime for these three. Would you please carry Lisa Ann upstairs for me, Jack?"

"It would be my pleasure," he whispered.

"I don't wanna go to bed, Daddy," Luke whined, but it was clear that his heart wasn't really in it, and he lifted his arms for John to pick him up.

"I know, my boy," John said, lifting him up and draping him over his shoulder. "But if today doesn't end, you can't ever have tomorrow." He smiled over at Jack and Lisa, then nudged Sid over towards Sarah Jane. "We'll be back downstairs shortly," he told the Brigadier.

"Come along, my birthday boy," Sarah said, giving Sid a hug and then picking him up.

She whispered in his ear, and he turned and waved to everyone at the party. "Goodnight and thank you all very much for the lovely gifts," he yawned.

"You're very welcome," the Brigadier said, and everyone else joined him in wishing the children well as they went up to bed.

John and Sarah were tucking in the boys when Jack appeared at the door. "I just put her in bed and covered her up so she won't be cold until you get her in her jim-jams," he whispered to Sarah.

"Thanks," Sarah whispered back. She turned and finished tucking the covers up over Sid. "Goodnight my little love, sleep well."

"Goodnight mummy, you too daddy," Sid said, yawning.

"Goodnight, my boy," John said, and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

Luke was already asleep, but Jack waited a few moments for Sid to roll over, then pulled a sensor out of his pocket. He pointed it at Luke and waited a few moments, then gave John the "thumbs-up" symbol.

John let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and headed out of the bedroom, leaving the door open just a crack so the light from the hallway could creep in. "Still working, then," he asked when they were halfway down the steps.

"Like a dream," Jack said. "Absolutely no indication that he's a 'complicated space-time event,' as you like to put it, and not just a normal, human little boy."

"As it should be," the Brigadier said as they reached the bottom of the steps. "And the way he loves that thing, you'd think he knew it was a temporal-bubble-whatever-you-call-it and not the simple wristwatch it's meant to look like."

"Well, making it look like Uncle Jack's wrist-strap didn't hurt," John said, ambling over to the couch with a slight limp. "I think we'll have to make Sid one next just to keep him from getting jealous."

Harry furrowed his brow. "I say, John, are you alright? Why are you limping?"

"Hm? Oh, just an old 'war' wound," he laughed. "Nothing serious."

Harry nodded quietly. For a decade he'd been monitoring John's health, silently watching as the level of inflammation in his body had crept slowly upwards, waiting for the right time to intervene. "Still, come in and have it checked out," he said.

"It's nothing, Harry," John insisted. "I'm fine, you've said so yourself on multiple occasions, now let it go." He looked hard at Harry.

"Nothing," Harry repeated. "Like that 'sprained' index finger that's still swollen after 6 weeks. I'm sorry old boy, but as your doctor I'm insisting that you be in my office first thing Monday morning." He looked over at the Brig.

"I trust that you'll be reporting to the infirmary first thing this Monday, before you start your work, Mister Tinker," the Brig said in a manner that would brook no arguments.

"Report to the infirmary," said Sarah Jane as she joined them. "Why, John? What's wrong," she looked at him with concern.

"Absolutely nothing," John said, "but try convincing Harry of that. One swollen finger and he's ready to put me on sick leave. I'm telling you Harry, I'm fine and I won't be treated like an invalid again. I had enough of that before Luke was born."

Sarah put her hand in his and held it up. "I have been worried about this dear, and it couldn't hurt to let Harry examine it, could it? Just to be on the safe side. While you're there, please let him check out that limp if you still have it by then." Sarah put her head on his shoulder. "If it were me that had the problem you'd be driving me to Casualty right now and you know it."

John threw his hands up. "Fine, I see I'm outnumbered. If you lot want to waste UNIT resources, I suppose I can't say a word about it."

"Right," the Brigadier said. "Now that that's settled, about the business at hand. Captain Harkness, perhaps you could give us the current status of our cover stories at Torchwood."

"Well, so far things seem to be holding steady as far as Sid and Lisa Ann, but as always, Luke's a challenge. Official position is still 'wait and see'. The fact that Sid goes to school and he doesn't did raise a few eyebrows and it got a few tongues wagging that there may be more to Luke than a growth disorder, but so far nobody's sure. For now I'm just going to keep monitoring that but if it gets any worse, I'm sorry, Sarah Jane, but we might have to consider pulling Sid out so they simply see it as a family choice."

"I know it would be for the best of reasons, but I really hope it doesn't come to that," Sarah said. "Sid really loves his school and he's doing so well there. It really would upset him if we had to pull him out now."

"Well, we'll do what we can and hopefully it won't be necessary," John said. "I'm just glad that the bubble is still working." He sighed. "When he was little, it was easier, but the older he gets, the more I worry about it."

"We'll just have to hope we can find a more permanent solution by the time it's necessary," the Brigadier said.

Jack shifted uncomfortably. He knew that any listening devices Dewhurst might have planted around the house were being reliably jammed; otherwise they wouldn't be having this conversation. But still, he was a bit loathe to bring it up. "Or maybe it won't be necessary by then."

"What do you mean by that?" John asked, leaning forward.

"I'm just saying that maybe sometime between now and when Luke's too big to reliably hide, the problem might... go away."

The Brigadier's eyes narrowed. "**Precisely** what do you mean by that Mr. Harkness?"

"I mean," Jack said, matching the intensity of the Brigadier's gaze, "that perhaps Torchwood has outlived its usefulness, and it's time that it, and Horace Dewhurst along with it, went."


	4. Chapter 4

The thought of the end of Torchwood brought a gleam to the Brigadier's face. "Just how do you propose to bring that about, Jack?

"Honestly, Alistair, I hadn't quite worked that out yet. Dewhurst has been spying on me ever since I volunteered for this assignment, so he definitely doesn't trust me. But so far I've managed to keep them off balance, feeding them just enough to wonder who's side I'm on. I know it's got to happen, just keep in mind that I don't see it happening anytime soon, especially since there's still a little matter of the royal charter.

The Brigadier would never have admitted it out loud, but he admired Jack immensely. Here he was casually talking about destroying an institution chartered by the crown - certain treason - and smiling about it. Certainly their styles could clash at times, but any man willing to put his life on the line for his friends and country was a man Alistair wanted for a friend. "Very well then, we'll table that for now, shall we? What matters most at the moment is that the Tinker family is safe and remains above any suspicion.

"I'm all for that," John said, holding Sarah Jane's hand a little more tightly.

"In the meantime," Jack said, having pity on John and hoping that he hadn't picked up the connection to treason the Brig apparently had, judging from how quickly he'd changed the subject, "I'm happy to report that things are still pretty good on the misleading-Torchwood front. They're buying the idea that Sid and Lisa have the same genetic abnormalities as Luke, but to lesser degrees, so much as they hate to admit it, and believe me, they do, they're starting to warm up to the idea that this is all about Sarah Jane's DNA being mutated from traveling in time, and not about Luke being the Doctor Junior."

Sarah Jane shook her head; it was so typical of Jack to phrase it that way. "Here I was thinking that in about five or so more years, we could send Luke off to college as a child prodigy."

"I'm sure we could," John said, "but I'm not so sure we should. I mean, at the rate he's going, in five years Sid's going to look and act older than him. He'll be like a seven year old."

Sarah sighed. From the moment she had realized that she was going to have Luke, his safety and happiness had been of great concern to her. Now that he was getting older, that concern was growing with him. "We're going to need special tutors for him soon, you know. It won't be much longer before he'll be beyond anything John or I can teach him."

* * *

After the meeting had ended Sarah Jane slipped quietly into Luke and Sid's room. Everyone had left the party but her Aunt Lavinia, who was sleeping in the guest room, and Jack, who was in the den having an animated discussion with John about the watch and how to improve it.

She sat down softly on Luke's bed and smiled at him. Her son, he wasn't a baby anymore. She supposed she was luckier than most mums. Because of Luke's slow growth rate she got to enjoy his childhood twice as long as she would her other two.

She brushed her hand through his hair and sighed. 'Oh Luke, what's to become of you, my precious little love,' she thought to herself. She knew Luke would always be different, never quite fitting in with anyone else on Earth. How she longed to protect him from everyone and everything that could hurt him. She wondered if and when the time came to tell him the story of his birth, how he would feel about being half Time Lord and half human.

She hoped he would see the positive side of it and not dwell on the problems. It was her job and John's to make him feel self-confident and have enough pride in himself that he could withstand any of the turmoil he may have to deal with in his older years.

Although she knew from seeing the Doctor on Gallifrey that he really loved their son - even if he didn't remember he existed - John was Luke's father in every sense of the word. John was the one who had helped her change his nappies, walked the floor with him when he had a fever, got the baby's sick all over him when Luke's stomach was upset. John was the one who read stories to him at night with her and helped to soothe the pain when he skinned his knee or got his feelings hurt. John taught Luke everything he could and Luke knew he could come to him for advice anytime. John wasn't just Luke's father, he loved Luke more than life itself; he was his daddy. In her eyes that was the most important job when it came to raising the children.

"Jack's leaving," John whispered in her ear, wrapping his arms around her. "Do you want to say goodbye?"

Sarah Jane looked up and smiled at him as she put her hand on his and rubbed it. "Yes, of course." She got up and went back downstairs with him.

"Did you two boys come to any exciting conclusions while I was gone," she smiled at Jack when she saw him sitting on the couch.

Jack sighed. "Just what we already knew: that Time Lords literally attract trouble."

Normally she would have simply laughed and agreed, but this was her son they were talking about. "What bothers me is that as he gets older, it's only going to get worse. We have to find a way to make sure he's never in a situation where we can't protect him. We can't have him in danger of any kind Jack. If we have to, we'll all move to UNIT and live there," Sarah said in a determined tone.

"Hopefully that won't be necessary," John said, "at least for a while. It's like this. As far as I've been able to figure out, Luke - and I'm guessing any Time Lord - has a sort of 'temporal gravity' to him. You know that example they always show for Einstein's theory where a mass is like a bowling ball in the center of a sheet, so it weighs down the center of the sheet and everything gets drawn towards the bowling ball? Well, this is a sort of temporal gravity, where not objects, but significant moments in time, or events, are drawn towards him. Right now the effect is pretty small, so it's not really noticeable, and I don't think that anybody would be able to detect it even if they were looking, but whatever it is that makes him a Time Lord, it makes him sort of gather temporal mass as he moves through time, so it will get worse as he gets older."

"But he doesn't travel through time," Sarah protested. "He stays right here."

"Of course he does," John said gently. "He's like everyone else, traveling forward through time at one second per second. The difference is that because he's a Time Lord, he gathers temporal mass, while humans don't. For now, though," John added when he saw Sarah's worried expression. "That temporal bubble we're generating around him with the watch seems to be cancelling out the effect nicely, and if we have to we'll find a way to give it more power. Hopefully, by the time we can't mask it anymore, he'll be good and grown up, and we'll have other options."

"Well, then, as long as he's safe for now, I suggest we all get some rest. It's been a lovely but long day and I'm tired." She gave Jack a hug. "Goodnight Jack, maybe after a good night's sleep you and John can come up with the best solution for all this."

"Don't you worry about it, SJ, we've got some time, we'll come up with something." He returned her hug.

"Thank you Jack," she smiled at him. "Just remember though, I've still got my eye on you."

"And I like it that way," Jack said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"In your dreams Jack," she laughed at him. She and John walked him to the door.

When it was shut Sarah turned and faced John.

"John, dear," Sarah smiled at him, playing with the buttons on his shirt. "Have you ever thought about taking a break and getting away for a while?"

John smiled at the idea. "That sounds nice. It'll have to wait until after Monday, however, or Harry will have my head." A twinkle appeared in his eye. "Actually, that's not a bad idea. If we're not here, Harry won't be able to nag me. I like it. Maybe a beach somewhere. What do you think?"

Sarah shook her head at him. "Oh no, you can't wiggle out of that quite so easily. If we did skip Monday, the Brig would have us hunted down and we'd be dragged back to UNIT. However, let's talk about it and make plans to go somewhere next week. Sid will be on spring break from school and we can make a real time of it. What do you say?" She ran her fingers through his hair, knowing how much he liked it.

He hummed a little, smiling. "I think it sounds great. We could do with some peace and quiet, I think."

"Fabulous," she smiled back at him. She jumped on the bed and patted on it for him to sit next to her. "Now then, where shall we go? Let's make it someplace special, say, France or Spain, what do you think?"

He furrowed his brow. "Do you really want to go that far? I was thinking something more like Brighton."

"Oh pish tosh, we've seen Brighton dozens of times. Besides, it's too crowded this time of year anyway. What we need is a real change of pace. Why not let's do something really adventurous for a change?"

John looked suspicious. "Like … what?"

Sarah Jane tried not to laugh, but she couldn't help it. "Oh John, you look as though I'm going to suggest taking the children for the running of the bulls or something."

He didn't look any more at ease. "You're not... are you?"

"No, actually I thought they'd enjoy cliff diving much more, besides, that way you could still go to the beach."

John was horrified. "Sarah Jane, you can't be serious. They're way too young to go cliff diving, they could break their necks. And so could you. I've never heard anything so ridiculous."

Now Sarah was rolling on the bed with laughter. "I adore you, John," she said holding her sides. "You really are the most wonderful man in the world. Do you know that?" She held her arms out to him still laughing.

John tentatively laid down next to her and took her in his arms, smiling at the joke at his expense. "You weren't serious, then."

She brushed her hand across his face. "I'd say yes, but I love you too much to do that to you. Oh John, I just think we need to do something that isn't quite so tame as the beach."

"What's wrong with tame?" he asked, kissing her nose.

"Well for starters, it gets boring after a while."

He frowned. "Boring?"

"Yes my love, boring." She propped herself up on her elbow. "How about some sort of compromise. Let's do something interesting that isn't really dangerous. How about a safari where we ride around Africa in golf carts and take pictures of the wild animals from a safe distance?"

Once again he was horrified. "Are you kidding? 'Wild animals' and 'safe' don't belong in the same sentence. There is no such thing as a safe distance." He sat up. "I know, if you want to go abroad, how about we go to America and tour the Smithsonian museums?"

Sarah just yawned and shook her head at him. "That place takes days to see even a part of it, and anyway, it's mostly just looking around at objects from someone else's adventures. I want us to have an adventure of our own."

"Darling," he said, stroking the side of her face, "considering the types of adventures you and I tend to get into … we have children to think about." He kissed her. "I know, the circus is in town this weekend, why don't we take the kiddies there tomorrow? I know it's not cliff diving, or wild animals in Africa or anything, but it'll be exciting for the children, and we won't have to spend the entire time trying not to get killed. What do you say?"

She put her head on his shoulder. "I say it's fine for a start, but after the circus I want something just a little more daring."

He smiled. "Oh, I can be awfully daring."

"Prove it," she said.

John pushed himself up on one elbow, then began to draw closer to her in the bed as he took his shirt off - and stopped suddenly, his spine arching as he stifled any sound, trying not to cringe.

"I thought so, I won't scold you because I can tell by the way you're moving you already know that you pushed yourself too hard today. Instead I'm giving you your medication, then I'm going to rub your back and that sore leg with liniment until you fall asleep."

"Sarah Jane, I'm just a little sore. Honestly," he said. "You and Harry are making much too much out of it." He kissed her head and smiled, emulating Jack's eyebrow wiggle. "I'll take the rub, though."

Sarah shook her head and laughed. "I think you've been spending too much time with Jack lately, John."

After he'd taken his pills and was feeling better, Sarah Jane picked up the liniment, looked over at John and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at him. "Ready for that massage, Mr. Tinker?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Come on everyone, we'll never get there if we don't leave," John called from the bottom of the stairs.

"Your daddy's right, boys, come along quickly or we'll be late for the circus, and we don't want that, do we," Sarah said as she finished brushing Lisa Ann's hair. "There, sweetheart, you look positively lovely, just like a little princess, doesn't she, daddy?"

"Absolutely, she's as beautiful as her mummy the queen," John said, giving each of them a kiss. He returned the huge hug Lisa Ann gave him. "If you can get her in her car seat," he told Sarah, "I'll see if I can corral the heir and the spare."

"As you wish, my lord and king," Sarah bowed to him, then picked Lisa Ann up.

John shook his head and headed up the stairs, where he could clearly hear the squeaking of bed springs. "Boys," he said as he climbed the steps, "stop jumping on the beds and get ready to go, we're going to be late." He swung into their room, where he found them not just jumping on the beds, but jumping from one to the other, so intent on what they were doing that they didn't even see him come in.

Sneaking up on them, he managed to catch both of them in midair. "Time to go," he smiled, falling back on Sid's bed under their combined weight.

"Hey dad, when we go to the circus can we leave Sid there, I heard they were missing one of their monkeys," said Luke, still chuckling.

"Oh right," said Sid. "You can stay there as well, they need someone to clean up after the elephants."

"All three of us are going to be lunch for the lions if we're late, now come along," he said, slinging one boy over each shoulder and heading down the steps.

Sarah Jane had just finished putting Lisa Ann in her car seat in the back of the station wagon. She heard her three men coming out the door before she saw them. "Mind you, don't fall into the moat on your way out," she called to John.

"Absolutely, m'lady," John said, pretending to walk a very narrow drawbridge. He set Luke down, then Sid, and made sure that K-9 was ready to guard the house and workshop while they were gone. "Luke," he said, "stop playing with your watchband, it's going to fall off and you're going to lose it."

"Sorry, dad." Luke stopped fiddling with the band and hopped into the back seat. "Ha, got the driver's side," he smiled triumphantly at his brother.

"Luke, that just means that Sid can sit there on the way back," Sarah cautioned him. Then she turned to John. "Did you remember to pack the pushchair?"

"It's in the back," John said, "along with the blankets in the unlikely event that the boys want to sleep on the way back," he winked at Sarah, "as well as lunch for everyone, and extra clothes in case anyone can't hold their candy apples."

Luke leaned over and whispered to his brother. "The real reason they packed extra clothes is that they're leaving you there and you'll be needing them."

"No, they're for you because you get sick if you turn around fast three times," Sid responded.

"Boys," said their mother. "I can smell trouble brewing from a mile away and the two of you are just behind me. Now settle down or we're not going. Is that clear?"

"Yes mum," they answered in unison.

The rest of the trip was fairly peaceful. The children spent most of the trip talking about their favorite animals and which acts they were looking forward to. It was their first time at the circus and they got more and more excited as the ride progressed.

Sarah Jane was quiet for most of the trip. She was determined not to ruin the day for anyone, but she was nervous, and she did her best not to let it show. "By my reckoning," she said. "We should be there in about ten more minutes, right John?"

"Something like that," he said. "Are you alright?"

She reached out and gave his hand a squeeze. "I'll be fine dear. I've just got a bit of a tension headache."

"I've got some analgesic stashed in the glovebox," John said, reaching over and giving her neck a bit of a rub with one hand while he drove with the other. "You might need it once we get these three under the big top."

"Oh, but that feels good, dear." She reached into the glovebox and pulled out the bottle of pills. "I think you're right, I'll just put these in my purse. I'll take a couple when we get there."

* * *

"Look," John said, "there's room up front!" Carrying Lisa Ann, he guided Sarah towards the empty seats in the stands as she corralled the boys. Gradually, it occurred to him that her grip got tighter with every step. "Are you alright?" he asked her.

"Oh, simply fine, dear," she said, trying not to grip his hand quite so hard.

"You're not fine," he said as they sat down. "I know when you're fine, and you're not fine."

"Let's just get settled in and I'll talk to you about it later, John."

John sat all three kids down and asked them to sit still for a moment so he could talk to Mummy. "Settled. Now talk."

Sarah leaned over and whispered in John's ear. "If you must know, I'm afraid of clowns. Always have been since I was a little girl."

"Goodness," he whispered back, concerned. "Why didn't you say something, we wouldn't have come. We could have found something else to do with the children."

"Nonsense, they had their hearts set on seeing the circus and I'm not going to spoil it for them. I'll be fine, no worries." She gave his hand a squeeze and smiled.

He gave her a quick kiss. "At least let's move higher in the stands, then, so we're not so close," he whispered.

"No, I won't hear of it. We've got perfectly wonderful seats now and the children can see everything from here. Stop fussing over me and let's just enjoy it all."

John sighed. "All right," he announced, "who wants candy floss?"

Three hands went up in lightening speed unity. "We do, please daddy," they said.

"Can I have some of the blue floss," asked Lisa Ann.

John smiled. "Yes, you may." He turned to Sarah. "And you, m'lady? Perhaps a great big giant one?" he hinted, using his hands to pantomime a huge cotton candy obscuring his view.

"Yes, that would be brilliant, thank you dear," she smiled at him.

"Alright, I'm going to go get it and Mummy's going to make sure everyone's shoes are tied and everyone's on their best behavior, aren't you, Mummy?" He hurried off as she knelt in front of the increasingly excited children, turning her back to the now more numerous clowns, who were ramping up their activities as more people filled the huge tent.

When he got back with the light, but huge and unwieldy snacks, she was just finishing up, and looked at him gratefully as she sat back in her seat. "Here you go," he said, handing her the huge candy floss that he'd had the vendor specifically make for him. He then sat down with the large blue one he'd procured for himself and the children and started parceling it out, tearing off sticky pieces and handing them to the children one-by-one.

In no time, the three children had blue circles around their sticky little mouths. Sarah laughed at them dotingly, but then laughed even harder when John looked over at her and she saw that he had the biggest circle of blue of all around his mouth. She fished her mirror out of her purse and held it up to John.

He laughed even harder than her, wondering how she'd managed to eat hers without getting a spec of it on her face. Instead, he just held his sticky fingers out to her helplessly.

Since they were done eating, Sarah passed John a premoistened towelette so he could clean himself up. She started cleaning Lisa Ann's face. "When you're done, John, pull another one out and give me a hand please."

"Of course," he said, and finished up. "Luke," he said as he cleaned Sid's hands and face, "don't play with your watch, you'll get it all sticky."

"Sorry dad, I was just trying to see if I could adjust the time, it's a bit slow I think."

John was about to raise an eyebrow at him, but then it occurred to him that Luke might very well have a better sense of time than all of them together. "Well, just don't play with it," he said. "You don't want to break it, do you?"

"No sir, I wouldn't want to do that for anything."

"Look Luke, " said Sarah Jane. "A magician, I know how you love magic tricks, maybe he'll do some you haven't seen yet."

Luke turned to watch, his attention focused completely on the man in the top hat and black suit standing almost in front of him. "Oh, I've never been so close to one before," he said. "This is brilliant."

The magician did a few simple tricks then asked for a volunteer from the audience who had a watch on.

Luke started to raise his hand, but Sarah reached out and stopped him.

"Sorry darling, that's a very special watch and it musn't be taken off."

Luke sighed. He was disappointed, but knew better than to question his mother. He went back to focusing as hard as he could on the magician and the man who was now standing next to him. The magician was admiring the man's watch.

He asked the man to hold his hand with the watch on it up in the air. Then he placed a green silk scarf with blue swirls over it. He held his hands up so the audience could see that they were not anywhere close to the man. Then he waved his wand over the scarf and pulled it off. The watch was gone.

The man that was wearing it looked confused. The magician asked him to put his hand in his pocket. When he did, he pulled the watch out of it, looking stunned.

The crowd clapped and the magician bowed as his assistant helped the man back to his seat.

Luke watched in rapt fascination; he loved the fact that everyone was mystified, but he himself seemed to have the answer. He was sure that the magician had pulled off the stunt by loosening the band when he was examining it.

While he was thinking about this, two more clowns stopped right in front of them, a pony pulling a tiny empty cart between them. "Who wants to ride?" they called, making exaggerated searching motions.

Lisa Ann turned to her parents with a pleading look that couldn't be ignored. "Oh please, may I," she asked.

John looked over at Sarah Jane, then started to shake his head.

Sarah turned to her daughter. "I think if it's alright with daddy, it's fine. What do you think daddy?" she smiled at him with a twinkle in her eye.

"Are you sure?" he asked, motioning towards the clowns with his eyes. "We want everybody to have a good time," he said, clearly referring to Sarah Jane.

"Go ahead sweetheart, raise your hand," Sarah said then leaned over and whispered in her husband's ear. "It means so much to her John. Look at her face, how can I deny her anything that means so much to her just because I have a phobia about clowns."

John kissed her. "You're wonderful," he said.

Lisa Ann's hand shot up the second her mother gave her permission. Her eyes were glued to the man looking for volunteers as he held the reins to the pony cart.

He spotted the adorable little girl sitting sweetly with her hand up. She looked as if her whole life depended on getting a ride in the little red cart painted with blue and pink roses. "I see a very pretty little lady who looks as if she's the perfect size. You there, young miss," he pointed to Lisa Ann. "The one with the green velvet dress on, would you get your father to help you come down here please?"

Lisa Ann grinned, nodding with excitement. "Daddy, can you help me please?" She reached her hands out to him.

John picked her up like she was his most prized possession and brought her down to the ring, setting her down with a big smile on both of their faces. "There you go, have fun," he said.

The ringmaster leaned down and shook her hand. "Can you tell me what your name is my dear?"

She was usually shy with people she didn't know, but she nodded and as he held the microphone up to her face, she smiled up at her family and waved. "Lisa Ann Tinker."

"Miss Tinker, would you be kind enough to lead our circus parade this evening?"

"Yes thank you," she answered.

"Very well then, please allow your lady in waiting to help you, because as of this moment, you are the honorary ringmaster."

A pretty woman in a sparkling dress placed a red top hat on her head.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present our lovely ringmaster for today, Lisa Ann Tinker as she begins the circus parade."

A clown came up and bowed to Lisa Ann then pulled a bright rag out of his pocket and dusted the seat of the cart off. He took her hand, kissed it and held the door open to the cart for her. Lisa Ann took the reigns and the clown walked up to the pony and held it's bridle. He bowed to the band leader and then walked beside the pony as the music started, leading it around the ring.

Sarah Jane made sure that John was taking home movies of it all so she could watch it at home with him. 'I'm so glad that we let her do this,' Sarah thought. 'What a pity it would have been if we said no. She's never going to forget today as long as she lives.'

John watched through the viewfinder of the camera, occasionally taking his eye off the camera to look at his little girl for real, watching as she tried to behave the way she thought a ringmaster should, and wound up waving all full of joy and enthusiasm like the three-year-old that she really was. He couldn't help but smile.

Meanwhile, Luke decided to take advantage of the distraction. "Hey Sid," he said, just loud enough for his brother to hear him, "Wanna see a magic trick?"

"Sure, but I'll bet you can't do one better than the ones we just saw," he baited Luke.

"Bet I can," Luke said, having pre-loosened the strap on his watch so that he could pull it off without Sid seeing. "Watch this," he said, draping the cloth he'd used to clean his hands after eating his candy floss over his watch. "Presto, change-o," he said, waving his other hand over it, "alacazam!" He grabbed the watch under the cloth and snatched them both up, intending to drop the watch into his pocket as he straightened out the cloth. To his horror, however, he felt the watch bounce against his leg and drop under the stands, four feet below them. He looked over at his father, who was still watching Lisa Ann. "See?" he said, forcing a smile in case Sid didn't see it. "Magic."

"Whoa," said Sid. "How'd you do that?"

"I told you," Luke said, "it was magic. Now watch the show," he said, trying to get Sid's attention away - and figure out how he was going to get his watch back before his father noticed it was missing.

John watched through the viewfinder of the camera as Lisa Ann led the parade, more and more performers and animals joining in as it made its way around and around and around the ring. Through the back opening of the tent he could see activity - a lot of activity - and then the biggest trick of all.

The last elephant in the line disappeared.

Sarah saw a beam of light out of the corner of her eye. She looked closer at the source of the light then jumped up, grabbing John's arm with alarm. "John, we've got to get out of here right now. Get the children and let's go." She turned to John who just looked at her with confusion. "Hurry," she shouted. "No time to gather up anything, just start moving. Luke, Sid, get your sister and..." She looked over at Lisa Ann in the middle of the ring, still smiling and waving with complete joy. "Oh John, we're in big trouble."

"Sarah, it's part of the show... isn't it?" He looked over at Lisa Ann, then realized all that activity behind the tent walls wasn't just performers getting ready to enter the ring, it was chaos.

A metal creature floated out over the ring, and just as he realized that behind the wall bodies littered the ground, a green light blazed from it, exploding the lights over their heads and sending all of the animals into a panic. John shook his head in disbelief. "No," he muttered. "Not again, not more aliens."

John jumped out of his seat and leapt over the outside of the ring, sprinting across and grabbing Lisa out of the cart, rolling to the ground just in time to avoid the flailing hooves of a Percheron as it reared up and fell backwards. It crashed into the emptying stands and collapsed them, nearly falling on an elderly man as he tried to find his way down to the bottom. John looked around to get his bearings and saw hundreds of terrified people either nearly crushing each other to get out the exits or getting tangled in the canvas trying to tear their way through the walls.

He could see Sarah Jane hustling the children under the stands near where they'd been sitting, piling debris between them and the now flying creatures, and he grabbed Lisa under his arm like an American football and got under there with her as fast as he could. "If this thing comes down, we're in trouble," he said in her ear, then tried to put a brave face on for the children.

Sarah looked about trying to find a safe way out, then decided that they would be safer waiting for the monsters to leave when they were done wreaking havoc. She was pretty sure that even though they could fly, they would stick to their usual habits of terrifying, destroying as much as they could, and then looking for something else to attack. "Trust me, we're better off here for now John," she said, praying she was right.

He looked askance at her. "Do you know what those things are?"

"Of course I do, you must as well." She looked at him with an expression that was somewhere between exasperation and astonishment. "How can you work for UNIT and never have heard of the Daleks?"


	6. Chapter 6

Sarah paused for a moment. "Never mind, I shouldn't be surprised, given your aversion to aliens. Just believe me, John, when I say that the Daleks are the most evil creatures ever invented."

John took a deep breath and looked around, doing a few mental calculations to reassure himself that the little pocket they sat in was suitably reinforced in case the stands over their heads collapsed, as the others had done. The acrid smell of smoke and ionized air filled his nose and dust and sweat mingled under his collar, making it feel almost as much like sandpaper as the dust in his parched throat did.

He stared at the hovering Dalek for another moment, then at his children. Lisa Ann was crying into his shoulder, and the two boys looked like they were in shock and about to cry, just staring at the destruction around them. "Here," John said, gently handing Lisa to Sarah Jane. He sat down on his knees and pulled the boys to him, staring hard at them. "I promise you," he whispered, "everything is going to be all right. Your mum and I have been in worse situations, haven't we mummy?"

Sarah Jane looked first at Sid's face and then at Luke's. The last time she had seen a Dalek she had been with his father. She'd never thought she'd see one again. 'Why isn't he here protecting you,' she asked herself. Then she looked over at John, the only father Luke had ever known. She knew that he was afraid but for her sake and the children's he would do anything to keep them safe. She also knew that John had absolutely no idea of what they were up against and how treacherous and cold the Daleks could be.

Her heart pounded wildly at the thought of what they could do to her and her family if they were captured. She looked at her children's faces and at John once more. Then she thought of what it felt like to be captured and tortured so badly that the Doctor readily capitulated and gave them all the information they wanted.

She wanted to run, to panic, screaming at the top of her lungs. If she were with the Doctor she would have had that luxury, but it wouldn't do for anyone nearby to see her that way right now. She took John's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Of course we have, and as soon as Daddy and I get you three out of here and we go home, we'll tell you the story about a war we got caught up in with our friend the king of the lion people."

"Oh Daddy," whispered Sid. "Did you really help a lion king fight in a war? How did you meet him? Was it like the Chronicles of Narnia?" The boy was obviously not only distracted, but impressed.

"Actually, he was friend of your mummy, and yes, we really did help a lion king fight in a war, though it might have been simpler if there was a wardrobe involved. But we still won, didn't we, Mummy?"

"Of course we did. Your daddy was a hero in that war. He even helped to save me," she said with pride.

"We helped save each other," John corrected, "and that's exactly what we're going to do here, now isn't it? Everybody's going to help each other."

"Yes, this is the first adventure that you children will help us on." She smiled at the three of them with all of the confidence she could muster. "Now then, do you all think you're brave enough to help us escape from here when the time is right?"

Luke nodded, actually managing to look as though he were just the tiniest bit excited and not simply terrified, as his brother was. But still, they both put their arms around John's neck and held on, with the childlike hope that Daddy would simply make all the monsters go away.

John smiled back at Sarah Jane. Nothing like having children with you for putting on a brave face. He held the boys close to him, peeking out a small hole in the debris to see what was going on. It was quieter now, the electric tang of bolts flying through the air constantly now down to just the occasional burst. The screaming had stopped, with everyone else, it seemed, dead, dying, or hidden as they were.

"Is the coast clear yet, John?" asked Sarah.

"Almost," he whispered back. "How acute is their hearing, are they likely to turn around and come after us?"

"Not if we just sit still for a while and stay quiet," Sarah said. "They won't hang about if they think there's no one left to go after." She turned back to the children, trying to distract them. "Well, I bet that this is a part of the arena hardly anyone gets to see. We should go as far in the back of it as we can go. I'm sure things will be much calmer there." She gave Lisa Ann a big hug. "Let's see how quiet we can be," she whispered.

John took the boys by the hand and they worked their way quietly back behind all of the boxes and machinery that had been stashed under the stands. Once there, John sat with his sons in his lap, thinking.

Normally he'd be terrified by all of this. Sarah was right; as a general rule, he avoided anything that had to do with aliens, and this was why. But right now he didn't have that luxury. Right now they had a family to protect, and he had no idea how he and Sarah were going to do that.

While Sid buried his face in John's chest, just as his sister had done a few minutes before, Luke reached up and whispered in his ear. "Dad, do they want to hurt us?"

John whispered back, as quietly as he could, "Not us in particular, don't worry." He tried to smile.

"Why are they here," Luke asked.

"I suppose they're just making trouble for someone," John whispered. "There don't look to be very many of them."

"Where did they come from, are they space aliens, like on the telly?"

John nodded. "I believe they are."

"Then those things that are sticking out of the front of them must be ray guns. Dad, they're from Mars and they're here to conquer the world, aren't they?"

"I don't know that they want to conquer the world, but those are definitely ray guns," John said. "Now the question," he added, his brain finally starting to work on the situation, "is what can we do about it?" He leaned over to Sarah. "Are those things vulnerable to anything?"

Sarah had been listening but was still keeping her thoughts to herself so she wouldn't frighten the children. "Well, they couldn't fly the last time I saw them, so steps used to be a big help. However, that problem for them seems to have been resolved somehow, so we'll have to think of something else." She knew that now that they could fly, nothing on Earth could stop them. "They'll go away soon, I'm sure of it," she said, forcing a smile.

He nodded. "Let's all just be quiet for a few minutes and let them go away," he whispered.

After an excruciatingly long twenty minutes of quiet Sarah left the children with John to check the arena. She peeked out as much as she could, then when she didn't see anything, she picked up a piece of a broken toy that she found and threw it as far as she could without coming out of the stands, through a broken window.

Nothing happened.

She waited a few minutes, then headed back to where she had left her family. "They're gone. Let's go now, quietly and quickly." She pointed to the emergency exit near the window.

John stood. "You take the boys, I'll carry her," he said, motioning to Lisa, who hadn't stopped quietly crying since the attack had begun.

Sarah nodded. She knew Lisa Ann was her daddy's girl and more likely to calm down if he held her right now. She took Luke by one hand and Sid with the other. "Once we get outside, please hurry boys, there won't be time to dawdle." They followed her as she led them towards the exit.

She started to open the door slowly - and then a loud alarm went off and a red light above the door started flashing. She turned around to John when she heard Lisa Ann start to scream. Three Daleks were bearing down on them like angry wasps. "John," she cried out.

John grabbed her by the arm with one hand and, still holding Lisa in the other, pulled her and the boys back into the building, then slamming the door between them and the Daleks. Moments later, before they even had time to look for somewhere to hide, green bolts burst around them and an explosion split the air.

And then there was nothing.


	7. Chapter 7

**We will be heading to DragonCon this weekend. If you're there and you want to meet up, please let us know!**

* * *

**Cardiff, Wales - Torchwood Three Hub**

Jason Hastings looked more closely at the monitor. "Hey, Arthur," he called across the Hub. "Have you ever seen anything like this?"

Arthur Debbins had led Torchwood Three for almost two years, and in all that time he'd never had so many misgivings about hiring someone as he had about Jason. Not that he was unpleasant, exactly. He was just … ambitious. The 'such men are dangerous' kind of ambitious. "What have you got?" He looked at the monitor, and a cold chill went through him. "Jack, come take a look at this."

Jack Harkness looked up from the magneto-stimu-sensor he was trying to fix and came over to the bank of monitors. "What's up?"

"What does that look like to you?" Arthur asked, pointing to a particular set of readings the rift monitors were streaming onto the screen.

Jack felt a shiver run down his spine. He didn't need to go back to the archives to identify the time signature he was looking at. "Daleks," he said, swallowing hard. "Definitely Daleks. Does London know yet? Looks like they came down there."

"I volunteer to take responsibility for this mission," Jason said stepping up to Jack eagerly. "Let me take a team down there at once. We'll handle those things in no time, sir."

Jack ignored Jason's sucking up to him and looked at Arthur. Thankfully Arthur understood that people looked to Jack simply because he'd been there the longest, even though Arthur was actually in charge. Deep down, Jack thought that Arthur understood it was Torchwood's fear of him that kept them from putting him in charge of Torchwood Three. Whatever the reason, the call belonged to Arthur.

Not that Jack was happy about the idea of going down to London to fight Daleks in the first place. He was even less happy about doing it with someone who'd had so little experience in Torchwood. "I'm not so sure that's a great idea. Jason, you really don't know what what these things are like"

"They're aliens sir, what more do I need to know? We get a team down there, capture them and bring them back here."

Jack tried not to roll his eyes. "Jason, these are not Weevils falling through the rift. You don't just mace them, put a bag over their head, and throw them in the back of a van. Daleks are … they fly, they have weaponry beyond anything we have in this time period, they're practically invulnerable … " He took Jason's shirt in both hands. "... and they kill anything that isn't Dalek on sight. Right now they're probably rampaging through London leaving death and destruction in their wake. This is not a simple capture and retrieve, and if you think it is you're going to get yourself and everybody else killed."

Hastings jumped when Jack pulled on his shirt. He put his hands up in surrender. "Of course sir, if you have first-hand knowledge of these things, I will gladly follow any advice you have to give me. Could you let go of me now, please?"

Jack sighed and let go of him. "My advice is to stay the hell out of there and let Torchwood One handle it," Jack said.

"Jack, did you forget that you live in London," asked Arthur. "By rights you should be there handling this already. If you like, I'll gladly let you go work with them. They're going to need that experience of yours with these things."

Jack tried to keep all of his cringing on the inside. "All right, but if we do this, we'd better muscle up."

Jason smiled at the thought of not only going on this mission, but getting his hands on some of the weapons in the Torchwood arsenal. "Permission to choose both team and weapons sir," he asked.

"Granted," Arthur sighed. "Good luck," he told Jack as Jason hustled away. "Pull rank if you need to."

"You bet," Jack said, wondering which was going to be more of a problem: the Daleks, or Jason.

* * *

It was Luke who awoke first, coughing and sputtering in the the dark, dust coating his tongue and clogging his nostrils. He felt around him; his right hand still held his mother's, and he squeezed it. "Mummy," he whispered, "can you hear me?"

It was cold, and deathly silent, like being buried in finely powdered snow.

Luke had never liked the dark. His imagination was always filled with the possibilities of what might be in it. But now, if it was dark, maybe it meant those Dalek things couldn't see him. "Mummy," he repeated, squeezing her hand again. "Can you hear me?"

"I'm alright Luke, just a bit groggy," she whispered, as she pulled him towards her. She took him in her arms and gave him a hug. "John, Lisa Ann, Sidney, where are you? Answer if you can hear me, tap on something, do anything, just let me know you're here."

"I'm here, mum," Sid said, quietly crying. "My arm is stuck and I can't move it. There's a rock or something on it." He sounded on the edge of panic.

"Luke, stay here and don't move, I'll be back as soon as I take care of your brother." She moved slowly and carefully in the direction she heard her son. "Sid, say something, but whisper it so I can find you, but no one else can," she said as she got closer.

"Can they find us in here?" Sid sniffled. "Where's daddy and Lisa Ann?"

Sarah zoned in on his voice and found him. From the little she could see, her son was almost buried alive. She carefully began to feel her way around the debris covering Sid. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized it was mostly dust with a few pieces of wood and metal. Slowly she lifted up the pieces she could lift. The few heavier pieces she dug around until Sid was free. She carefully put her arms around him and drew him close to her. "It's alright sweetheart. Mummy's here. We'll find daddy and your sister, don't you worry."

But Sarah Jane was worried. In fact, she was terrified. She and the boys had been in an air pocket, but John and Lisa had been just beyond the rubble pinning Sid's arm; what if they were buried there? What if one or both of them were seriously hurt and needed medical attention? What if they were - she stopped herself. She couldn't bear to finish the rest of what she was thinking. She had to focus on being positive or she'd go mad, and the boys needed her.

On the other hand, she thought, what if he had gotten out and she and the boys were trapped in here?

There was nothing to do for it but try to find a way outside, and then once she was sure the boys were safe, she'd look for the rest of her family. With any luck, John was outside with their daughter, safe and sound and worried about her and their other two children. "Come on boys," she whispered. "Let's go find the rest of the family. Can you walk, Sid?"

Sid nodded, and even though she couldn't see it, she could feel him come along, his good hand gripping hers tightly.

"Are they still out there?" Luke whispered.

"I don't know," answered his mother. "That's why we'll have to be very careful. You two stay behind me and if I tell you to run, you do it, no matter what you see or hear, got it?"

Both nodded, and followed her instructions. Together they started moving debris out of their way, Sarah Jane holding her breath every time something seemed to shift.

Then suddenly there was a rumble, and a shaft of light. A young man, fresh-faced and not much older than a teenager, popped his head into the opening. "Anyone in there? It's all right now, we're here to help!"

"There's at least three of us, possibly more." Sarah felt a sense of relief, maybe whoever was out there could help her find John and Lisa Ann. "My husband and daughter are missing," Sarah Jane called out.

The face disappeared for a moment, then came back into view. "Were they with you when the blast hit?"

"Yes they were, but I don't know if they made it to safety or not." Sarah and her sons were almost at the opening now. "Who are you? Are you with some sort of military unit?"

He laughed. "No, Missus, we're Torchwood. But don't worry, we'll find your family, they can't be too far away."

Sarah stiffened for a moment, then relaxed before the boys could see her so tense. 'No need to worry,' she told herself. 'We're just civilians to them, and besides, even if they were looking for aliens, Luke has his watch on.' "Step carefully boys, we're almost there," she said, trying to sound as confident as she could.

As they reached the opening, the young man hung down into it almost to his waist. "Hand me up the boys, Missus, then I'll give you a hand."

Sarah hesitated, then realized any other mother would want her children to go first. "I'm going to send out Sidney first," she said. "Please be very careful with him, his arm has been injured."

Sid held tighter onto her. "I don't want to go Mummy, I want to stay with you."

"Sid, don't be such a baby," Luke snapped. "Don't you want to get out of the dark?"

"What if those things are out there?"

"If they were out there they would be shooting at these people, wouldn't they? You're so dumb."

"Luke, that will be quite enough," said Sarah. "We've all been through a lot today and I don't blame your brother for being afraid. Now apologize to him this instant."

"I'm sorry," Luke said, with a sneer on his face. "Now get up there so we can go home!"

Normally Sarah Jane would never have let Luke get away with his current behavior, but right now part of her wanted to hug him for creating such a normal situation - albeit a small one. It was the perfect diversion. After all, what could be more typical than two small siblings going at it with each other? "It's alright Sid, Luke and I are coming out right after you, I promise. Now please let this nice man help you out, dear."

Sid stuck his tongue out at Luke, then let Sarah Jane pick him up and hand him to the inverted man hanging through the hole.

Next Luke patiently waited his turn, standing in front of Sarah Jane with his arms up in the air.

Sarah watched as Luke stood there. Then her heart suddenly stopped. The watch was missing from Luke's wrist! It must have broken off in the explosion. She looked back to where they were, seeing only darkness. Even if she saw it, however, she couldn't go back for it now. She had to think fast; she couldn't just pass Luke up without his watch. She leaned next to him as she saw the man returning. "Luke, your watch is gone," she whispered. "Don't argue with me, run back where we came from now and don't come back when I call to you."

Luke hesitated for a moment, staring into the dark, not wanting to leave the tiny sliver of light, then moved out of it to where he could see the light, but couldn't be seen.

Sarah looked up helplessly at the man as he reached for Luke. "My son got frightened and ran off. I'll have to go after him. Please look after Sid for me till I get back," she said and ran towards where they'd come from before he could answer her.

"Missus! Missus, you can't go back in there, it's not stable! This whole thing could come down any second! The rest has already collapsed!"


	8. Chapter 8

The lead Dalek swiveled in place, waiting for the rest of the squad to report. One could not say that the Dalek was nervous, exactly - Daleks certainly didn't have emotions - but he was concerned.

The Dalek was no bronze drone. No, he was a Black Dalek, specially bred with the knowledge that one day he could become a Supreme Dalek.

Not that he was ambitious for his own sake. No, ambition was for the inferior races. All that mattered to him was the victory of the Daleks over the Time Lords in this war, and that meant just one thing.

Destroy the Time Lord known as the Predator, the Destroyer of Worlds.

The Time Lord called the Doctor.

When the Daleks had resurrected Davros to help them in their war with the Time Lords, he had made sure that all Daleks were bred knowing of the one man who knew them, understood them, could destroy them.

The mighty Davros had met this man, back when the Daleks were being born, when neither side comprehended that they were playing out the opening salvos of what would become The Great Time War - or perhaps, given the losses both sides had faced, the Last Great Time War.

Davros made sure all of his Daleks knew this man's weakness.

And so all Daleks knew that they could defeat the Doctor by using his compassion against him, by attacking anyone close to him. Especially the female he had shown by his actions he would do anything to save.

Few of his kind had the imagination to make use of that knowledge, but the Dalek Time Controller had found just the tiniest perturbation of time here, in this time and place, and had sent the Black Dalek and his drones on this mission to find the female and bring her back.

The Dalek made note of the elapsed time since he had last had contact from the Controller. The reporting period had passed, and he knew that he had heard the last of the Controller. The mission had not been sanctioned; if it had been discovered, the Controller would have had to be exterminated for insubordination. It was only logical.

But the Dalek knew that this was not correct, and once they obtained the female they would prove it, and return without disgrace.

The local Dalek pathweb, tying together only the squad here on earth, tingled in his mind.

"Leader," the squad reported, "we have found Sarah Jane Smith."

* * *

Sarah stopped in her tracks. "Luke, please come back, it's too dangerous to stay down here."

The defeat and fear in his mother's voice made it crack in a way that Luke had never heard before. He didn't know what to do. She'd said not to listen to her, and now she was telling him to do just that. But more than anything he didn't want to be down here in the dark, and he darted to where he thought she was, wrapping his arms around her legs.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," she said, hugging him tightly. "I was hoping to gain some time to find your watch, but it's just not safe enough for us to look for it. Let's get out of here, OK?"

He nodded, relieved, and buried his face in her shoulder. "I want to go home," he said.

"Me too," she said, tears falling silently down her cheeks. "I promise as soon as we find your daddy and your sister that's exactly where we're headed."

The Torchwood soldier had lowered himself into the hole, and was waiting for them. He held out his hands for Luke to hand him to a colleague, who'd taken his place at the opening. "Glad to see you, Missus."

All of Luke's life Sarah Jane, her family and a handful of close friends had dedicated themselves to protecting him from Torchwood. The whole organization had come to mean fear to them, fear of being discovered, fear of what would happen to them if the truth did come out and fear of them learning about Luke's origin. Now here she was handing Luke over to a Torchwood guard and praying that she and her sons would not be recognized. "Thank you," she said to the man as calmly as if he were opening a door for her. "My husband and my daughter are missing. Any idea where I can go to see if they got out safely too?"

He paused for a moment. "Let's get you out first," he said, cupping his hands so she could put her foot in them for a boost upwards.

Sarah allowed the man to help her. She made her way up into the light, squinting as she looked around. Destruction was everywhere, the sun's rays hinted that it was already well into the afternoon, and the boys were sitting on the remains of a bench, looking as glum as the rest of the scattered survivors, sharing a single blanket between them.

A paramedic was just finishing fitting a splint on Sid's hand and arm. "I can't tell whether it's broken," she told Sarah. "I've put some antiseptic and a bandage on the laceration and splinted it for now, but obviously we've got more serious wounds to deal with, so I'll leave him to you."

Sarah thanked the paramedic. She hugged her boys close to her and turned to the area where she had last seen John and Lisa Ann. It had been reduced to a pile of rubble. She wished she didn't have to be brave for her sons, but she managed to give them a little smile as she hugged them tighter.

She turned toward the man who looked like he was in charge. "Has anyone seen a tall thin man in his forties with a little three year old girl?"

"Not yet," the man who'd helped them out of the hole said. "We're going to hand over rescue operations to the local authorities, though, now that we've cleared the area. I'm Devon Banks," he said, holding out his hand. "And you are …?"

"Lavinia Smith," she smiled at him as she took his hand. "Thanks for the rescue."

"Of course. We'll look out for your husband and your little girl. I'm sure we'll find them," he said. But she could detect just the slightest hint of doubt in his eyes. "In the meantime, we'd like everyone to head over into the main administration building, until we're sure we've cleared the entire area. We don't know how many of those things they are."

"Certainly sir, anything we can do to make the search easier. Come along boys," Sarah took the hand of each one of them and walked away so as to appear to be following the instructions she had been given, all the while planning a way to rescue John and Lisa Ann without being noticed.

"Oh," he said, calling after her, "what are their names?"

She knew the man had heard the boys called by name, so it wouldn't be smart to give them false ones - entirely. "Luke and Sidney Thompson. I kept my maiden name," she said, still smiling.

"I meant your husband and your daughter, Missus," he said, motioning to his clipboard. "So we can let you know when we find them."

"Oh, yes of course, just a bit rattled after all that. It's Michael Thompson, and our daughter is Annie. Thank you for searching for them. With any luck, who knows, they may already be at the administration building." She waved and started walking. "Hurry boys, we've no time to lose," she whispered.

"Mummy," Luke whispered, tugging on her hand.

"Shh, not now Luke. I'll answer all your questions as soon as we're out of sight. Please boys, just keep walking. I promise everything will be alright soon."

The boys behaved and soon they were far enough away for Sarah Jane to start feeling safer. She looked around as they walked and spotted a phone booth. "Stand right next to me, boys. I'm just going to make a call so we can get help for daddy and your sister. You've been very brave up till now and I'm very proud of you both. Do you think you can be brave just a little while longer?"

Sid and Luke nodded and stood next to her while she picked up the phone and dialed the operator.

Sarah Jane prayed silently while she waited. Quickly making a collect call the moment she got an operator, she waited anxiously for an answer.

* * *

Jack's phone vibrated in his pocket, and not recognizing the number, he considered ignoring it, then thought better of it. He flipped open the phone. "Jack Harkness," he said quickly, stepping over a large slab of rock that had once been the foundation of a building over a century old.

"Collect call from Sarah Jane Smith," the operator said.

"I'll accept it," he said quickly, motioning for Louis to distract Jason for a moment and ducking behind the remnants of a brick wall. "Busy right now, is it important?"

"Only if you call John and Lisa Ann missing and possibly dea -" she paused when she saw Luke and Sid looking up at her. "There's been a Dalek invasion and we were caught in the middle of it and now I can't find John and Lisa Ann," she snapped at him.

"Damn," Jack said, looking around for a building that was still intact, and sprinting towards it. "That's what I'm busy with. We're already on it. Stay the hell out of there and I'll see if we can find John and Lisa. Where were they last?"

"We were at the circus in the downtown arena when it started. Oh Jack, this is all my fault. I just wanted a little adventure and now everything's gone wrong." It took a moment for Jack to realize that the strange sound he was hearing was Sarah choking back sobs. But surviving a Dalek attack and thinking that her husband and daughter could be dead, who wouldn't react? She was strong, but she was human. "Please, please," she was saying, "come and help us."

Jack swore - silently. He already had his hands full keeping Jason from getting them all killed; already, as they surveyed the situation, he'd had to stop the rookie from walking right into a Dalek ambush - twice. But he couldn't just leave her this way. "Calm down, SJ, honey, the cavalry is coming. It's going to be OK, you just sit tight and I'll make sure someone finds them."

"I've got Luke and Sid with me so I'll need your help Jack," she said, regaining her composure. "You've got to find John and get him and Lisa Ann out of there before the rest of your team does. Someone is bound to recognize him eventually."

Jack stepped into the building and made sure there was nobody within earshot. "Um … OK, I'll see what I can do. Look, even if they recognize him, it's not a catastrophe. He's under surveillance already, it's not like they're looking for him and they're suddenly going to find him." He stepped into a storeroom and closed the door behind him. "Luke's with you, right, and he's got the watch?"

"He's with me, but unfortunately the watch is gone. I think it fell off during the explosion. I'm going to have to make sure the boys are safe while I try to find John and Lisa."

'Damn,' Jack thought for the umpteenth time so far. 'Of all the times for him to lose the watch…' He pinched his eyes together. "Look, that whole area's cordoned off, and they're going to try and find all the survivors to make them forget this happened. Just sit tight and try to stay away from anybody Torchwood until I get there. I'll find you."

"Very well, but hurry. How will you know where we are?"

Jack thought about all the equipment Torchwood was running to try to find the Daleks. "Luke's not wearing the watch. Believe me, I'll find you."


	9. Chapter 9

**_One hour, 38 minutes before Sarah Jane's rescue ..._**

It was the pain in his head that first woke him.

No, not in his head, exactly, John thought.

Rather, he was aware that his head hurt, but it was someone else's pain and he was just aware that it was there.

He felt the slow, inexorable movement of blood down his face, tasted it on his tongue. He followed the sensation back and decided that it was probably coming from the gash in his scalp. South Croydon, he thought. A porch in South Croydon.

Who was he again?

He was John Tinker.

Wasn't he?

No, he thought, that came later. He looked at John Tinker's life and tried to decide whether he'd imagined it. Was that all a dream? Were Sarah Jane, and the children, and everything else that had happened something that his mind had constructed as he fought for life on that porch in the rain?

And if it was all a dream, then who was he, really? A sense of an entire life that had come before filled him, like a swelling of emotion he couldn't identify, dancing in his mind, foreign smells and tastes and sounds and sights overwhelming his senses, another place, faces and voices, both jostling for attention and refusing to be pinned down and identified until he felt as if he could reach out and grab the truth and -

A mental door slammed shut, leaving him once again in silence.

His attention fixated on the blood on his face.

It was dripping down.

That was important.

If only he could figure out why.

Because the blood hadn't dripped down his face on the porch, he realized. And it wasn't raining. He wasn't on the porch. This was something else.

Something crucial.

And very, very bad.

Gradually he regained full consciousness and certainty that his life with Sarah Jane and the children was real, and that he was in very, very big trouble.

Once he'd decided that he did, in fact, have a gash on the back of his head, his brain began to let in other things. He felt the intense pressure on his elbows and shoulders first, then the huge weight on his back. Then he heard the tiny whimpering of Lisa Ann in the space below him he'd apparently created before everything had caved in on them. "It's alright, don't cry," he said, grunting as he tried to lift the debris above him without success.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" he asked Lisa. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm scared, daddy," she answered him.

"It's alright, darling, don't be scared." He tried to shift without losing his leverage. His upper arms, straight up and down, were in the optimum position to hold as much weight as possible, but he couldn't do this for long. A quick check and he could tell this his legs were free, however. If they could get out of the silent dark pocket in which they'd found themselves, they'd likely be alright. "Sarah Jane," he called, "can you hear me?"

There was no answer. Only darkness and silence surrounded them.

Then the sound of scraping metal filled the air, and a shaft of light rained in on them. "Hello?" John called. "Can you hear me? We're a bit stuck down here."

John hadn't quite run through the whole list of things that could have caused the noise, but he was just getting to 'Oh please don't let the whole building be collapsing on us' when the weight on him suddenly seemed to lift off of his shoulders and he squinted at the sudden brightness.

Before his eyes adjusted, he felt something around his upper arm just as Lisa Ann screamed. He felt himself being pulled upwards, and hooked his other arm around Lisa's waist just in time to pull her along with him, turning his body so that she was on top of him and not being dragged along the jagged debris, as he was.

But he could feel that she, too, was being pulled, and when the pulling stopped, they were both staring up at two of the metal monsters.

Lisa Ann was paralyzed with fear. "Daddy," she called out to him crying loudly. "Make them go away."

John wasn't much better. "Just stay calm," he said, panting, but realizing that if the Daleks were going to kill them, they'd have done it already.

One Dalek moved towards Lisa, a metal plunger arm extended towards her.

John put an arm out in front of her, but the second Dalek pulled him farther away. "Leave her alone," John said. "She's harmless."

A metallic voice emanated from the casing. "Scanning." Lisa squirmed as the plunger got near her, and as it touched her arm she screamed.

John pulled towards his daughter, but when the plunger arm retracted he could see that she was screaming more in fear than pain; there wasn't a mark on her.

"Confirmed," the Dalek said. "Genetic material compatible with Sarah Jane Smith."

The second Dalek released John. "You will care for the female," it said, then turned to it's compatriot. "Bring her."

Lisa Ann reached out for her father. "Don't let them take me, daddy."

John took her hand, turning behind him to see that the building hadn't completely collapsed. The spot where Sarah and the boys were most likely to be was still reasonably intact, if cut off. Perhaps the best bet for all of them at the moment was for him to let the Daleks take them somewhere else so they wouldn't be there when Sarah emerged.

Especially since they seemed particularly interested in her.

"You don't have to drag her," John said. "I'll carry her, and I'll go where you say."

"You will follow instructions," the Dalek said, "or you will be exterminated!" But still, it released Lisa's wrist, and John picked her up in his still-aching arms and followed the lead Dalek, the second one following behind.

* * *

As Sarah Jane was waiting for Jack, she began to weigh her options. She was starting to realize that Jack was pretty much on his own in many ways, even if he was working for Torchwood. She trusted Jack of course; he had proven his loyalty to her family long ago. However, John was out there somewhere with Lisa Ann and right now he could be dealing with the Daleks or just as bad, captured by Torchwood. The other option she refused to deal with. She had to focus on them being alright, albeit in trouble of some sort.

She couldn't just sit around worrying and waiting. She had done that last time, and John was almost killed. No, this time she was going to do whatever she could to save her husband and her daughter. Besides, without Luke's watch, staying in one place for too long would just make them sitting ducks for Torchwood. "Boys, listen to me carefully. Daddy and your sister could be in big trouble right now. How would you like to help me rescue them? It would be dangerous, but it could also be a tremendous adventure for us. What do you think about that?"

Both boys' eyes grew wide.

"But you said Daddy and Lisa were okay," Sid said, looking to her to take back what she'd said.

"If they were okay they'd be here right now," Luke snapped at him.

"I must insist if we're going to do this, boys, that you both listen to me and obey me to the letter. We'll have to work as a team or we won't succeed. That means getting along and no fighting of any kind, no matter what the reason, got it?" Sarah eyed them both sternly.

The boys looked at each other suspiciously. "Mum's right," Sid finally said. "There's too much going on here for us to fight."

"Right," Luke answered. "Mum, is that why you gave those people the wrong name?"

Sarah chose her words carefully. She didn't want to frighten her sons. "I've learned to be very careful about who can and cannot be trusted Luke. Those people worked for an organization that can be very dangerous. It may have looked like they were helping, and in a way they were, but their motives are not always the best ones. Now then, if you're both ready to begin, let's press on, shall we?"

"So are they the bad guys, mum?" Luke asked, unconsciously taking her hand.

"They can be, Luke, but always remember, we're the good guys and we will win, I promise you that." She gave his hand a squeeze and smiled at him.

He smiled back at her, and Sid took her other hand. "So where do we go to look for Dad and Lisa?" he asked.

"Well, we'll have to give that some thought," said Sarah Jane. "We'll have to decide where we're most likely to find them. Do either of you have any ideas?"

"Why don't we start where they were last?" Luke asked. "Maybe they're still there."

Sarah Jane thought about both the safety and welfare of her sons. They were a family and of course, and they had to be reunited. And her boys were young, yes, but they were her children and she knew how well they had been trained - even though to them, it seemed like they were just playing games.

All of that made it that much more important for her to think as clearly as possible. She had to make sure that Luke and Sid stayed just far enough behind her to prevent them from seeing anything that could destroy their childhood innocence forever. Whatever they found when they found John and Lisa Ann, she must be the only one to deal with it firsthand.

But once again she pushed that into the back of her mind; there would be nothing traumatic to find. She insisted on it, as though by refusing to accept any other outcome, she could prevent a tragedy.

Sarah smiled bravely. "I think going back is an excellent idea, Luke. Remember when we have our water battles back home, we play in teams. Our teams don't fight with each other, they pull together to win. Now then, are we a team, gentlemen? "

Both boys nodded and walked next to her as though they were sneaking through the darkest jungles trying to avoid lions and tigers and bears. Suddenly Luke stopped, and tugged on Sarah's hand. "Mummy, what if those things are still there?"

"Then we'll have to outsmart them," answered Sarah. "We'll simply have to make sure that they don't know we're there too."


	10. Chapter 10

Jack's mind was spinning in a thousand directions, desperately trying to come up with a solution, any solution.

He knew he had to find Luke, and fast. And he had to do it without the rest of his team finding out. He knew that he could trust Louis - he was the last remaining member of the group that had helped him break John out of Torchwood Tower so many years ago - but most of Torchwood 3, and not just Louis, was combing the grounds looking for Daleks. Including Jason.

And then there were the Daleks themselves.

He was of two minds here. There was the logical, rational part of him, which was worried that the Daleks were going to sense Luke's temporal signature before he got there, and lock on to him. He'd made sure that Torchwood's sensors had "mysteriously" begun to see some glitches once he'd spoken to Sarah Jane, but he couldn't do the same for the Daleks.

And speaking of temporal signatures, it was just possible that the Doctor would, in fact, arrive to handle the situation.

But not "his" Doctor. He knew from his time on the TARDIS that these had to be pre-Time War Daleks. Or even worse, he thought, perhaps this was even a Time War battle.

Either way, if the Doctor showed up now, it would be before they'd met, and Jack couldn't cross his timeline. One more thing to worry about.

Jason smacked the side of his sensor with the heel of his hand. "What is wrong with this thing?"

"It's possible," Jack said, "that the Daleks are scrambling our sensors so we can't get the drop on them."

"Can they do that?" Jason asked.

"Of course," Jack said. In fact, he had no idea whether the Daleks could do that, but who was going to argue with him? Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Louis suppressing a smile.

"Then we're going to need to do this on foot and we're going to need reinforcements as well," said Jason.

The logical, rational part of Jack's brain knew that - short of him re-enabling their sensors and risking the team stumbling on Luke - that was the right answer. He also knew that with more people for Jason to manage, he was more likely to be able to slip off and help Sarah on his own. "Good idea."

He pulled out his phone and dialed Arthur.

"Debbins here," he answered.

"Listen, it's Jack. We need you to call down to London and get us some boots on the ground. Dewhurst will do it regardless, but I'm not in the mood for the hassle he'll give me if I call him myself."

"Yes, you're right of course." Jack could hear keystrokes and switches flipping in the background, but he knew that Arthur wasn't as distracted as he sounded. "Done and done, if you need anything else let me know. Best you leave it to me to handle things from this end."

"Will do, thanks," Jack said, then motioned for them to walk on towards the administration building, where they'd meet up with their new reinforcements, and hung up. The rational part of him continued to search the area for danger.

And there it was, the other part of him. The irrational, terrified part of him, whose thoughts of Daleks mostly consisted of that terrible moment when he stood, cornered, hearing nothing but the screeches of "EXTERMINATE!" before the blistering bolts burned through him and he died - REALLY died - for the first time.

* * *

John sat, Lisa Ann in his lap, trying to work out some sort of escape plan. Once they'd arrived at what could only be the somewhat damaged remains of a crashed Dalek ship, the Daleks themselves seemed to have lost interest in them, shunting them off into an alcove and ordering them to "Remain in this place!"

"It's all right, sweetheart," he told Lisa for the dozenth time, a single Dalek simply watching them, unmoving, its single eye glowing like a cold blue ember.

Lisa cuddled as close to her father as she could get, and then she put her arms around him as tightly as she could. "They're scary, daddy, and they're mean too. I want to go home," she sobbed.

He stroked her hair. "I know, honey, I do too." He stared at the Dalek, desperate for a way out.

After a few minutes with no activity, he calmed down enough to realize that if he was going to get anywhere, he needed to begin thinking more like UNIT's Xenotechnology Specialist, and less like a panicked father.

He looked around the ship, trying, as he always did, to try and decipher what he was looking at. The walls were rounded, like the outside of the ship, with no corners the curved bases of the Dalek casings couldn't reach. Absently he noted the radius of each surface, comparing it to the Daleks themselves and wondering if there were larger units that might fit the larger contours. He started to get into the zone, analyzing everything he saw. For each console, each indicator, he wondered, what was it's purpose? How did it work?

Most importantly, was there anything here he could use?

He remembered that Sarah had written about the Daleks in one of her books - or was it stories he'd heard at UNIT? - and they were living creatures inside a shell. For a moment he thought that perhaps that might mean they had sentiment that might be played on, but then he remembered what she'd said about them: 'The most evil beings ever created.'

He shuddered.

Her adrenaline gone, Lisa finally fell asleep, and he held her for a few minutes, taking comfort in the regular rise and fall of her breathing against his chest, still taking in everything he could, trying to find some excitement about being on an alien spaceship to push out the terror of being surrounded by aliens.

That last part wasn't working all that well.

A second Dalek - this one black - entered the room, and the their guard swiveled to face it. "We have captured Sarah Jane Smith," it said.

"Excellent," the newcomer said. It turned to face one of the panels, and extended a mechanical arm, activating what John was sure was a switch. "This message is for the Doctor," the mechanical voice intoned. "We have Sarah Jane Smith. You will report to us or she will be exterminated. The coordinates are 992004.224, 7772388.881, 42988.880, 62053.4002."

John allowed himself just a tiny bit of satisfaction that he was right in his assessment that that particular piece of equipment was for communications, but it dissipated immediately upon the notion that they were planning to exterminate Lisa Ann, thinking that she was Sarah Jane. Absently he noted the use of four coordinates rather than three and wondered which one represented the required point in time, and how far away it was. How long did they have before the Daleks took action?

The black Dalek swiveled to face the guard once more. "The Doctor will acquiesce to save Sarah Jane Smith as he has done before, and we will return triumphant."

"Affirmative," the guard said as the black Dalek turned and left.

John sat quietly, wondering just what the Doctor had done in the past to save Sarah, and whether she knew about it. And did that mean that he was here? Finally? For a moment, the thought of the Doctor being there to potentially rescue them made him elated.

Then he realized that if the Dalek was right, the Doctor might not only NOT be able to rescue them, he might be compelled to do something they'd all regret later.

No, he was going to have to do something to save his daughter and himself, and he couldn't wait around for the Doctor to help.


	11. Chapter 11

Sarah Jane and her two sons carefully approached the arena, where just a few hours ago they had been enjoying the circus. "Be as quiet as possible, boys, and stay right next to me at all times, unless I tell you to run, understood," she whispered.

"Yes, mummy," they both whispered back. Luke pulled on her hand. "Look mummy, footprints," he said, almost forgetting that they were supposed to be quiet. He pointed to an area in the dust that had been walked on by large booted men, but that still clearly showed signs of a scuffle. More importantly, it showed what looked like the tracks wheels might make, along with various imprints of two tiny feet being dragged along.

Sarah Jane looked down, saw them and realized that she'd been so focussed on Torchwood not finding John that she hadn't considered an even worse fate. She held her hand up to her mouth. "Oh no, the Daleks have John and Lisa Ann." She wanted to cry, but then she saw the expressions on Luke and Sid's faces. They were literally looking up to her for guidance. "Boys, I won't lie to you, Daddy and your sister are in big trouble, but they're still alive. We'll have to be very, very clever, but I know that together we can and will save them," she said with as much confidence as she could muster.

Luke swallowed hard. "Mummy, how come Lisa's feet stop here?"

"Simple," said Sarah Jane. "Daddy picked her up and carried her. Remember boys, think it all through. Try to put yourself in everyone's place. Right now Daddy is doing his best to protect Lisa Ann. So we'll have to try and find out what the bad guys, as you call them, are thinking. Fortunately, I've fought these bad guys before. They're called Daleks and their sole purpose is to gain control wherever they go. So, the big question now is why would they take Daddy and your sister prisoner?" she said more to herself than her sons.

"Because Daddy is smart and he can beat them," Sid said.

Sarah smiled at her son's opinion of his father. He was right though, John was brilliant - almost as brilliant as the Doctor. "Oh no," Sarah cried out without thinking, "they must think John is the Doctor!" She considered her options for a moment, wondering at the the fact that everyone - including herself - kept thinking John was the Doctor. Perhaps, she thought, it would buy them some time. But what would happen to John once the Daleks realized he wasn't the Doctor?

Luke looked confused. "Why would they think that, mummy? What doctor, Uncle Harry?"

"No, this Doctor is a scientist, Luke, and a very smart one. Your daddy is a lot like him. Oh, what I wouldn't give to have him here with us now." She bit her lip, unconsciously wringing her hands. For a moment she thought back to her conversation with Lavinia, and the irony of it. More than once she'd fought the Daleks with the Doctor, and she couldn't remember being this upset, even when things where at their worst.

'That's because he was here with me,' she thought. Well, now she didn't have that luxury. "We'll just have to settle for the next best thing. We'll have to decide what the Doctor would do if he was here. For now, let's follow these tracks but keep out of sight." She took each boy's hand and forged ahead.

"Hey!" they heard, and saw Devon Banks and two men with guns across the fairground, running towards them.

"Run, boys, and don't look back," Sarah said, and took off, one boy's hand in each of hers.

* * *

Several Torchwood soldiers where standing around on watch talking and awaiting further orders. There was as yet no sign of the enemy that they had been sent to capture, and that made them jumpy. It was better to deal with open confrontation than sitting around on edge knowing that you could be attacked at any moment from out of nowhere. And getting "loaned out" to Cardiff wasn't making them any cheerier.

"Great," said Evans, nudging his partner. "Look who's here, bloody Jason 'I want to be in charge' Hastings."

"Just what we needed," said Turner as the Torchwood Three team headed towards them. "If you ask me, he's more of a threat than those things we were sent here to nab."

"Why is Cardiff in charge here anyway," asked Norwich. "This is our territory."

"Attention," shouted Jason as he walked over to where the men were gathered. "I have been given express authority from Torchwood One, along with the rest the Cardiff people with me, to take charge of this operation. I'm going to begin by forming a search party and I need four men who know how to follow orders to the letter."

He stood there for several minutes as the men just looked at each other. "Well then, are any of you going to volunteer or do I have to chose from among you myself?"

Turner reluctantly stepped forward, followed by Evans. In a few minutes four men were standing ready for orders.

"Right, you four follow me closely. I'll explain my plan on the way." Jason walked away without glancing back.

Jack shrugging at the four 'volunteers' and rolled his eyes. "Just go with it, boys, we'll get through it."

Jack followed along, a plan finally formed in his mind. He'd let them get invested in the search, and then he'd "wander off after a lead," find Sarah and the kids, and bring them home, where the nearest spare watch was sitting on John's workbench. That done, he'd high-tail it back to the circus and try and find John and Lisa.

Then his phone rang. He glanced at the number and winced as he answered it. "Yes?"

"Harkness," Horace Dewhurst said, "I hope you're working on that aliens at the circus case that just came up."

"You know I am, Horace," Jack said, as though nothing were wrong. "Why?"

"I just got word from the team there that they have discovered that the Tinker family were at the circus when all this business started. I expect you to follow through on that and locate the family you were supposed to be tailing. Make that your first priority. I have a very strong suspicion that John Tinker and his wife have something to do with all this. It's my understanding that those things have been involved with the Doctor, so find them, detain them and report back to me the minute you do, understood?"

For a millisecond, Jack considered his options; this was the perfect excuse to disappear - except that Dewhurst didn't trust him and would absolutely send someone with him. "I'm a little busy right now," he said. "If they were here, chances are they're dead now."

"The devil with chances man, I want them accounted for no matter what the circumstances are. Find them and hold them or bring their bodies back to HQ."

Jack sighed, trying not to let Dewhurst hear it. "Of course," he said, "understood." Without waiting for more, he hung up.

Before he said anything, he thought for a minute. Leaving the grounds was out of the question now; it was too dangerous. But maybe he could manage a phone call.

"I'll be back in a minute," he told Louis, and slipped off before anyone could stop him. He finished dialing as he slid behind a wall.

"Sullivan here," Harry answered.

"Harry, it's Jack. Don't ask questions, go to John's house and pick up the spare watch and sensor and then come down to the circus. But be careful because there's Daleks here, and the place is crawling with Torchwood."

"Daleks," he said with shock. "Torchwood as well? Oh I don't like the sound of this, not at all Jack. And why do you need the spare watch? Please don't tell me John and Sarah Jane are mixed up in all this. Good grief, they are, aren't they?" He sighed knowing the answer before he heard it. "I'll be right there, but perhaps I should get some reinforcements to help deal with the mess first."

"Harry," Jack whispered, "the last thing we need right now is a shooting war between UNIT and Torchwood. I've got it handled, don't worry," he said, with much more confidence than he felt. "But Luke's lost the watch and we need to get him a new one before Torchwood notices. I told Sarah Jane to stay put but I can't get to her."

"You told Sarah what?!" he shouted. "Good heavens, after being their neighbor all these years you still don't know how she thinks. I say, old boy, you just waved a red flag at a bull. I'll wager anything that she's having it out with John this very moment about looking for a way to get rid of the Daleks."

"Actually, she's not, she's probably looking for him. He and Lisa are missing, and I've checked, Torchwood doesn't have them."

"Well, that settles it then. You'll need an army to find her and those boys. Knowing Sarah Jane, she's probably out raising an army of her own. I'm on my way, not that it'll do much good," he sighed again at the thought of what his old friend could be up to.

"Harry, I'm warning you, if you bring UNIT it'll be trouble," he hissed, seeing Jason round the corner, then hung up and dropped the phone back in his pocket. "Nothing back here, false alarm," he said. "We'll just have to go back out there and see if we can find any sign of where the Daleks might have gone."

* * *

Harry looked at the phone in disbelief, then hung it up. Shaking his head, he walked out the door and pointed his car in the direction of John and Sarah Jane's house.

Much as he hated to admit it, he agreed that it would be a grave mistake to get UNIT or MI5 involved in this right now. So the best thing he could do was get the extra watch John kept safely locked up in his workshop. Luckily he, Jack and the Brigadier each had their own copy of the key in case of just such an emergency as this. In less than twenty minutes he had the extra watch in his pocket and was on his way to find Sarah and the boys.

He leaned over and took a plastic case out of the glove box. Better to be prepared to defend himself. He only hoped the weapon in the box was advanced enough to traffic with Daleks.

* * *

Having found nothing in the environment he could use - or at least, nothing he was confident wouldn't kill him and Lisa - John realized he hadn't inventoried his own pockets. He supposed that not having pockets themselves, it wouldn't have occurred to the Daleks to search his and he was glad of it.

Reaching in and feeling around, he thought about all of the times Sarah Jane had teased him about all the things he carried around, asking where the frog was, and so on. But today, he was glad of it.

Waking up Lisa Ann, he sat her up in front of him, obscuring the Dalek's view of what he was doing. "Wanna see daddy do a magic trick?" he whispered in her ear.

She nodded, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

John pulled out the pocket notebook he always carried, a small pencil he used to write in it, and a small manual pencil sharpener, stuffed full of shavings and taped shut so it wouldn't empty into his pocket.

He quietly removed several sheets from the notebook, then put the notebook and pencil back into his pocket, pulling out a small, mostly-full box of matches he and the boys had been using to light fireworks at yesterday's party.

He pulled the tape off the pencil sharpener, carefully tearing it into several strips, all the while surreptitiously checking every few seconds to make sure they weren't being watched.

Using some of the tape he wrapped several thicknesses of paper into an approximation of a drinking straw and carefully saved the rest of it by hanging just the tip of it on his nose to make Lisa smile.

Next, John began to break the heads off of half the wooden matchsticks. When he was done, he put them into the paper straw, sealing it up with a tiny piece of the cloth he had used to clean the candy floss off the children's faces, seemingly ages ago. Using more tape he secured the rest of the matches around the straw.

As quietly as he could, he tore the strikers off each end of the match box. Then he pulled out the notebook once more, pulling on the spiral binding until he'd exposed about a paper clip's worth of wire. Bending it back and forth until it broke off, he made it into a loop and placed it inside of the striker. He then taped the striker and the ring on top of the match heads. After that he took a rubber band and wrapped it around the striker several times so that any pulling of the ring would pull the striker and light the matches. He then emptied the pencil sharpener into a sheet of paper and wrapped it around his makeshift fuse, securing it with the last of the tape.

Satisfied with his work he motioned to Lisa Ann to be quiet but to watch what he was going to do. She nodded at him, excited and distracted by the "magic trick".

John took a deep breath, pulled the paper clip ring out and threw his concoction as far across the room as he could, and as the room filled up with smoke he grabbed Lisa Ann and dove in it as the Dalek swiveled around looking for them. He heard the Dalek calling for reinforcements as he hit the switch he was hoping against hope really was the door activation switch and slid through as a bolt flew over their heads. He hit the door switch on the other side of the wall and was thankful to see the door close.

He reached into his pocket for the spiral notebook and jammed the exposed wire into a crevasse he thought might short out the mechanism and was rewarded with a shower of sparks that made Lisa scream.

A moment later, a hand covered his mouth and he and Lisa were dragged backwards.


	12. Chapter 12

Sarah and her sons managed to temporarily lose Banks by running into one of the buildings near where the area had been cordoned off.

"Hey, this building has been shut down, you can't come in here," shouted a guard as she headed inside.

Sarah didn't say a word as they barrelled past him. She knew it was just a matter of moments before either the guard or Banks would capture them.

Looking around she tried to find something that could help them escape somehow and spotted the sign for a stairwell. She ran towards the stairwell, flung the door open for the boys and then leaned her weight against it to hold it closed. Turning to see if the boys were alright, she spotted the answer to her prayers. There, behind the boys, was a glass case marked "Fire Emergency Only".

The boys looked up in surprise when they saw the grin on her face. Taking a chance she abandoned the door, then told the boys to duck and broke the case open, pulling the fire hose out "Luke, when I tell you to, turn the hose on as quickly as you can," she told him. "Sid, come hold this thing with me."

Both boys did as they were told. Sarah waited with Sid for the door to open. "After you turn the water on come and join us," Sarah told Luke.

In a few seconds the footsteps of the guard reached the door. Sarah nodded to Luke as the handle on the door moved.

As the door opened, the water came gushing out of the hose, nearly knocking Sarah Jane and Sid over but they managed to hold onto it. Luke ran over to them and grabbed the hose while his mother successfully hit the guard with a huge spray. He went down with a loud thud, slipping in the cold water and trying to regain his footing.

Before he could, Sarah Jane used his surprise to grab his gun and train it on him. "I don't want to hurt you but we need to find a safe place to hide in this building, so, for your own safety, please don't follow us." She turned to her sons. "Boys head back out into the lobby, I'll be right behind you." She looked at the soaking wet guard and shrugged. "Give us ten minutes and then you can go somewhere and dry off, safe and sound. This really isn't worth you getting hurt over you know."

The guard looked up at her dripping and shivering. "I'm with you, lady. I'm just here because my uncle owns the building. I don't know what you're running from but it's not my problem."

"Thanks," Sarah Jane smiled at him, then slipped carefully out the door.

When she saw the boys she put her arm around them and gave them a hug. "Well done, let's slip round to the back of the building and get out of here as fast as we can. We've got a weapon now, let's just hope we don't need to use it."

"We're not going to hide in this building, mum," questioned Sid.

"No, I was just saying that to throw off anyone who comes looking for us."

Sid smiled as he looked back at the water on the floor where they left the stairwell. "That was like the water fight at my birthday, but with a lot more water in the hose. I wish we could do that again."

Luke laughed. "Yes, I could actually feel the water gushing through the hose. Can you imagine what we could do if we had one like that at home? I bet the look on Uncle Harry's face would be amazing if we shot him with it."

"Whoosh," laughed Sid as he splayed his arms and stumbled around.

Sarah shook her head as she headed toward the back of the building, hoping there would not be anyone there waiting for them when they reached it. The guard's comment about his uncle worried her; if the owner had had time to send over guards when everything was shut down, he might have sent more than one.

On the other hand, it was good to hear the boys' laughter, even though she was still worried sick about John and Lisa Ann. When they got out of this place they'd have to get back to following those tracks - if they could even find them again.

* * *

Harry arrived at the grounds in much less time than he would have expected given the speed limits. He immediately set about trying to find Sarah Jane and the boys, keeping an eye out for John and Lisa Ann as well as any Daleks or Torchwood along the way.

He stopped short at the destruction for a moment; he hadn't seen things quite this bad in a while. Since leaving UNIT after their adventure in an alternate reality, Harry had been working for NATO and spending a lot of time in Africa working on vaccine programs. Sometimes it was a convenient excuse to be in place for his work in the intelligence service, but most of the time he was just glad to be a doctor.

Still, he often found himself in the more ramshackle parts of the world - where his services where most needed - and he had to admit, as Dalek attacks went, this was... somewhat limited.

Oh, certainly there was death and destruction. It didn't take him long to find a pile of bodies stacked up and waiting for removal, and he skirted the area before anyone saw him. But it seemed to him that this was an attack that was based on more than just causing mayhem - more than simply taking over the world.

No, there seemed to be a purpose here.

He pulled out the sensor again, and glanced at it. All it told him was a general direction, and he followed it.

* * *

John struggled as he and Lisa were dragged backwards, but the arms that gripped him were like iron and just as the hand over his mouth started cutting off his oxygen a door closed in front of him and it was as if he were suddenly somewhere else.

The arms released him and he rounded on his captor, realizing all at once that this was not the Dalek ship.

He was standing in a large, almost cavernous room, which looked as if it had been sumptuously decorated at one time. A table covered with what looked like maps and diagrams stood before a Victorian armchair that had undoubtedly been beautiful in its day, and both looked discarded before a wall of worn bookshelves that were now almost devoid of books. A thick layer of dust blanketed the candle wax that covered almost every surface, and an almost sub-audible hum seemed to vibrate in the pit of his stomach.

A wooden inlay stood out from the marble floor, housing a hexagonal podium of some sort. It was covered with switches and dials and levers and screens but before he could even think about what they did his eyes were drawn to the two interlocking assemblies of blue luminescent cylinders hanging above it, and the strange-looking man standing alongside.


	13. Chapter 13

Sarah Jane and her two sons found the back exit of the building and Sarah was pleased to see that it was unguarded. She reasoned that it was because the front of the building had been cordoned off and the rest of it was probably blocked as well.

She left the boys by the back door for just a moment, keeping them in sight even as she checked out the area. There was no one to be seen, so she motioned for the boys to come out and follow her.

She knew they were getting tired; all their adrenaline was gone, now that - for the time being, at least - things had quieted down a bit. Besides, it wouldn't be safe for all three of them to continue the search. They would be spotted far too easily. If she could just find a safe area so she could leave the boys to rest for a while and go off to search for John and Lisa Ann ...

She looked around as they carefully made their way to the arena where the circus had been. Looking past the destruction, she smiled when she saw that the parking area itself was undamaged, and the elongated wooden building the attendants sat in while he collected the parking fees was unmanned and intact, even if the exhibit behind it was nearly destroyed. "Boys, I need you to do something very brave and very important for me, do you think you're up to the task?"

"Yes mum," they said in unison, smiling at the thought of being so important.

She started walking to the wooden booth. It was little more than a shack, really, and she was absently glad the day was not too hot or too cold. "This very nice building is going to serve as a lookout post, and I need you two to take turns watching for any movement. Make sure you both stay down and don't let anyone see you. I'm going to scout around and when I come back you'll need to report to me, got it?"

"Aw mum, that's no fun," Luke said, and kicked up some gravel in the parking lot.

"This is war and we're a team, boys. You don't do something just because it's fun, you do it because it needs to be done for the good of the team. Now can I trust you or not," Sarah asked him.

Disappointed, Luke put his head down. "Alright, Mum, if that's what you need us to do," he capitulated.

"Mum's right," said Sid, who was used to sports and being a team player. "Come on Luke, I'll let you be in charge till mum gets back," he said, opening the door of the booth. He saw a familiar looking box and turned to Sarah Jane. "Hey Mum, there's some sweeties in here, can we have them while we wait?"

Sarah smiled. "Of course you can if they're still wrapped. Just make sure to share them with your brother."

Luke poked his head in the door and saw that there was room enough for both of them. Sid had already started to divide the candies. He jumped in. "Let's count those out and take turns choosing what we want, Sid." He turned back to his mother. "Don't worry mum, we'll be fine and I promise we won't be seen by anyone."

Sarah leaned over and gave them each a kiss and a hug, then closed the door. "Be good boys and stay there sitting on the floor. I won't be gone a moment longer than I need to be, I promise."

The boys nodded and sat down with the candy. Sarah turned and started to carefully walk towards the arena, about a fifty or so yards away.

Movement caught her eye and she saw that Banks was onto her again. She made sure that he saw her, then took off running, away from the boys.

* * *

Jason picked his way carefully through the rubble, his team behind him, one eye glued to the sensor even as the other watched for movement and obstacles he might fall on - again. As they approached the parking lot, he saw a woman running from the parking shack, closely followed by … he thought it might have been Devon Banks.

He remembered Banks from his orientation at Torchwood One, before he'd been transferred down to Cardiff. Soft, through and through.

He looked again at the sensor. 'And stupid, too,' he thought. Banks was chasing the woman, when according to the readings he was getting, the alien was inside the building.

'Let him have his fun,' Jason thought. 'I'll be the one who gets the alien.' He motioned towards the building, and his team carefully followed him.

* * *

Sarah ran, trying to lose Banks but not so badly that he'd give up hope of finding her and head back to where she'd left the boys. Finally she rounded a corner and found herself literally staring at a brick wall. She spun around to see him staring at her, trying to catch his breath as he pointed his pistol directly at her.

"Why are you here?" he asked her. "Where are those boys who were with you? I told you to go to the administration building. It's too dangerous out here."

"Look, Mister Banks, wasn't it?" Sarah raised her arms and smiled at him. "I had a friend come and get my boys and take them to safety. All I want now is to find my husband and daughter. I promise I want nothing to do with whatever reason you are here. Once I find the rest of my family, I swear, we'll do whatever you like."

"Missus, you can't be wandering around here," he said, lowering his gun slightly. "Those things are still out here, it's not safe. I told you, we'll find your family. Now where are the boys?"

"I told you, I had a friend take them somewhere safe. Look Mister Banks, do you have a wife and children, or maybe a family member that you love? Would you be able to let someone else look for them while you pace the floors and worry?"

He lowered his gun the rest of the way. "Look, I wouldn't want my mother out there. But that's the point. If your friend and your boys are wandering around inside the grounds, we need to go get them now, before they get hurt."

"The boys are home safe and sound, but for all I know my husband and daughter could be trapped under the rubble of the arena." She slowly placed a hand on his shoulder. "Please, just let me go find them. I promise not to get in anyone's way. Look, my little girl is only three years old, I'm sure she's very frightened and hungry right now and wants her mother."

Banks turned towards the arena, then turned back to her, his brows furrowed. "Wait a minute, nobody could get in or out of here, it's all sealed off. So you didn't send the boys home with anyone." He raised the gun once more. "Why are you lying to me?"

Sarah didn't hesitate. "I was afraid someone from your group would take them into custody, and me too. Besides, you and I know finding my family is not a high priority for your people. But you're not like the others, I feel I can trust you. Will you help me," she appealed to him once more.

He opened his mouth to speak, but before a single sound came out, they both saw movement and Sarah pushed Banks out of the way just as a Dalek fired, showering both of them with exploding brick. "Run!" she told him, climbing to her feet.

But the Dalek seemed uninterested in Banks, and instead turned on Sarah. "You will halt!" it said.

"Get help!" Sarah shouted to Banks, and he ran off.

"You will remain still!"


	14. Chapter 14

**32.7 minutes before John's escape attempt**

The Doctor hadn't been chasing the Daleks. Really he hadn't. The fact was that he didn't have to.

The Time War had been raging, it seemed, forever. And perhaps, given the nature of it and its tendency to reach backwards and forwards in time, it had.

And it hadn't been going well.

Not for him.

Not for the Time Lords.

For ten million years, the Time Lords had reigned supreme in the cosmos. Oh sure, there had been conflicts here and there, but always time wars, lowercase, and they'd easily dispatched their enemies, cementing their place as the guardians of the cosmos, never leaving any doubt in the minds of the time-sensitive species as to who was in charge.

But this was a Time War, capital letters, and things weren't nearly so simple.

The Daleks were literally killing machines, seemingly unstoppable, seemingly infinite, seemingly everywhere. They destroyed everything before them, choosing targets strategically to draw in Time Lord forces and obliterate them as they tried to stop each Dalek attack.

The last time the Doctor had been to Gallifrey he'd seen the masses of distress call boxes arriving from Time Lords who'd found themselves in over their heads and needed help. How many times had he himself responded? He'd lost count.

Early in the war he'd been on the front lines, beating back Dalek attack after Dalek attack, sometimes - no, usually - at great cost.

Then he'd made one of the worst decisions of his life. He consoled himself with the notion that it hadn't really been his choice, but the damage was done.

He shook his head. It didn't matter *how* it had happened. It had happened.

He had gone on the offensive.

He had become The Predator.

From the moment they'd realized it, he had been the number one target of the Daleks. It had been bad enough that he was one of the few Time Lords that could beat them. Now that he was actively seeking them out, he must be exterminated, and at any cost.

And the cost had been high. Before they'd caught on he'd caused major damage to the Dalek fleet - almost, but not quite, enough to turn the tide.

Now those advantages had all fallen away, and he was one of the few who could admit that the Time Lords were losing this war, and badly. The Daleks chased Time Lords down wherever they found them, and none moreso than the Doctor. If they even thought someone was working with him, or traveling with him, or in any way associated with him, they targeted that person to try and get to him.

So when the Doctor saw a small force landing on Earth, he'd panicked. He told himself that they were shooting in the dark, knowing that Earth was his favorite planet, hoping that he'd arrive to save it. If they had any particular target in mind they'd have brought more than a single ship - especially if they knew what he knew: that somewhere down there was a Time Lord.

He'd sensed it the moment he'd materialized to see what they were up to. The combination telepathic trace and temporal perturbation was slight - so slight he'd almost missed it - but it was definitely there, and he knew he had to find this Time Lord before the Daleks did, or before he or she died of whatever injuries had weakened their presence so significantly.

1988. Mentally, he ran through the list. It was contemporaneous for a few of his former companions, but except for some trouble that had happened in November of that year - still months off - nothing specific. He just had to make sure that he didn't run into -

The TARDIS's communications array crackled to life with a mechanical voice that sent ice running through his veins. "This message is for the Doctor. We have Sarah Jane Smith. You will report to us or she will be exterminated. The coordinates are 992004.224, 7772388.881, 42988.880, 62053.4002." The array was once again silent.

The Doctor sat for a moment, staring. All this time, he'd worked to keep his timeline and hers clear, to avoid entanglements that would keep him from going back, and it was all over in a split second, with a single message intersecting them. Then his mind snapped to action. Whatever they were up to, Sarah was right in the middle of it.

As he entered the coordinates he realized that he hadn't even considered not going. What was wrong with him? This was a war, and there was a Time Lord out there who needed help. And yet he still didn't stop, his mind already trying to work out how he was going to save her, even as he calculated the best place to put down the TARDIS. Certainly not directly where they'd requested it; the Predator wasn't going to make it that easy for them.

Close enough to mount a rescue attempt… that was something else. So he'd deliberately located the TARDIS near the ship's holding area, practically embedding it into one of the walls so that it wouldn't be noticed, even without a working chameleon circuit.

He'd just stepped through the TARDIS doors when the holding area's doors slid open and a man burst through, acrid smoke trailing behind him. He slapped the door button and pulled something out of his pocket, shorting out the mechanism.

The Doctor realized immediately that this wouldn't stop the Daleks, and this man, who'd clearly been held with Sarah Jane, might be able to help him. Before the man even realized he was there, the Doctor grabbed him and put a hand over his mouth so he wouldn't call out, then dragged him back into the TARDIS, closing the door behind them.

The Doctor let go of the man and realized that he'd been holding a small girl. The two of them looked around and stared at him, almost expectantly. "Quickly," the Doctor asked, "was there someone else with you? A woman?"

The man shook his head. "Um … no. It was just us. What … um … we need to get out of here." The man seemed to get his feet beneath him. "We need to run," he said. "Those things will be after us."

"Actually," the Doctor said. "They can't come in here after us."

The man looked incredulous. "You don't understand, there are things out there that are…." He seemed to be fumbling for the right words. "Look, you're not going to believe me, just take my word for it, we have to go, and right now."

"I'm afraid that you're going to have to take my word instead. Believe me, I'm perfectly aware of what's out there. I've been dealing with them for a long time. Look," the Doctor said impatiently. "Are you sure you haven't seen anything of a young woman with brown hair, green eyes? She's in very grave danger and I must find her."

Before the man could answer him, the little girl, who had been smiling shyly at the Doctor, spoke up. "Daddy," she said as she shook man's sleeve. "Who's your new friend?"

The Doctor suddenly remembered the child and looked over at her. She was quite pretty and something about her face nibbled at the back of his mind. There was something familiar about her, but he couldn't decide what or why. Right now, however, he didn't have the time for anything until he could find Sarah and make sure she was safe. He bent down and stared into the child's face. "Hello little girl. Have you seen a very nice lady anywhere inside this ship?"

The girl smiled shyly at him and shook her head. "Scary mean metal monsters made me and daddy come here. I didn't see anybody but you and daddy. Did they grab you and make you come here too?"

He smiled sadly at her. "No, I came here looking for someone very special to me."

The man shifted the girl to his other hip and held his hand out. "My name is John Tinker, and this little monkey is my daughter, Lisa Ann. Listen," he continued, "I appreciate all you've done, but I'm afraid you really should get as far away from us as you can."

"Why would I want to do that?" The Doctor furrowed his brow, wondering what was going on.

John set Lisa down for a moment, then pulled the Doctor aside so Lisa couldn't hear him. "I'm afraid these things are after us in particular. They think my daughter is my wife Sarah Jane, and for some reason they're looking for her specifically. I've got to find her before they do, and it's much too dangerous for you to come with us."


	15. Chapter 15

It was just a fraction of a second. That was how long it took for the Doctor to process what the man had said. Sarah Jane was his wife.

Time seemed to slow almost to a stop and for a fraction of that fraction of a second he thought that the man couldn't mean HIS Sarah. After all there was only one Sarah Jane, but there were plenty of people with that name.

He felt as if his hearts were caught in a vise, and told himself he was being ridiculous. This man HAD to mean someone else.

But he knew that was just hoping for the impossible. The Daleks wouldn't be interested in this man's wife otherwise.

Besides, he looked at the little girl, confused but clinging gamely to her father, just as Sarah might have done at that age. And the resemblance! There was no mistaking it.

That was why the next fraction of a second was taken up by the horror of his mind realizing that with that one sentence, he had officially crossed Sarah's timeline. Every day, every minute, every moment between the day he dropped her off in 1977 and this day in 1988 was gone. Lost forever. Eleven years that they might have had, vanished in an instant. He felt his whole being ache, as if part of his life had been suddenly ripped away.

In the fraction of a second after that, he thought about the fact that Sarah had had a child with this man, and she was several years old. The emptiness inside him turned to rage. Had Sarah really gotten over him that quickly? After all they had meant to each other?

After all, they had never talked about it, but they had been... intimate. Quite intimate. How could she have moved on from him so soon?

The fraction of a second after that, he reminded himself that he'd never intended to come back. Oh sure, he realized, the muscles in his back that had suddenly tightened beginning to loosen as he thought about the fact that he thought about her every day, he wondered what she was doing. He constantly reminded himself of his current companion's name - back when it was safe to have one - so he wouldn't accidentally call them Sarah.

But he'd resolved when he'd dropped her off that day that for both of their sakes, it had to be the end.

The anger began to melt into sadness that the universe wasn't what he wanted it to be.

But a moment later the rage boiled up inside him anew. How dare she get married! She would never, could never...

This man who called himself her husband must have had some kind of hold over her. That was it! It was the only explanation for how this could have happened. This John Tinker must have done something to trick her or coerce her into it, and he wasn't going to get away with it!

He had forgotten all about the Daleks and was about to channel all of this rage he'd built up into a plan to save Sarah from what must be a sham of a marriage when he looked again. No, this thin pale man looked like he could barely take care of himself - in fact, he didn't look well at all - let alone able to manipulate Sarah Jane.

Nobody controlled Sarah Jane Smith. So how could this have happened?

Could he really have lost her, not just for 11 years, but forever? His whole soul ached.

Had Sarah Jane gotten on with her life?

By now almost a second had passed, and he thought he ought to say something.

The Doctor looked at Tinker with disbelief. There must be some mistake, there had to be. "Did you say your wife's name is Sarah Jane? Surely it can't be, not Sarah Jane Smith?"

"Sarah Jane..." The man seemed to realize something. "Sarah Jane Tinker now, I'm afraid, Doctor."

Tinker looked almost as though he felt sorry for him, and the Doctor felt his rage returning. How dare this man presume to pity him? This man couldn't give Sarah Jane one iota of what he could!

He thought about what he could have given Sarah, the places he could have taken her, the things they could have seen, the adventures they could have had.

The life they could have had.

Years ago, before he had seen what he had seen, he might have let himself be saddened. Now he took his sadness and turned it into anger.

"How did you know who I was, Mr. Tinker?" The Doctor eyed this man closely. This man who married his Sarah Jane.

"Well, let's see," John said, a little irritated, "you're running around in the middle of a Dalek invasion, you're dressed like you haven't stepped in front of a mirror since 1875, and you're calling Sarah Jane by the maiden name she hasn't used almost since she left you more than 10 years ago. It didn't really take a rocket scientist to figure it out."

Now the Doctor was surprised. Sarah Jane married this man so soon after he left her? Was it possible that he'd misread her feelings? All that time they traveled together he felt sure she cared for him the same way he cared for her. It hurt more than he would ever admit to think that she got over being with him so quickly. Well, that and the fact that he would have expected her to end up with someone much more dynamic if she had gotten on with her life. It was bad enough to be replaced, but by this fellow? He'd have to deal with all this eventually but for now he needed to find Sarah and make sure she was safe. For the time being, he'd have to make the best of this unsettling situation.

"Well." The Doctor mustered a tight smile and held his hand out to John. "It seems congratulations are in order. If I had known, I would have sent you both a wedding gift. My goodness, ten years. You two must have tied the knot just a few months after I dropped her back here."

John paused, seemingly confused. "It's … complicated. Actually when we got K-9, we thought he was a wedding gift at first. And he's been a lifesaver, thank you."

He wondered just what this Tinker fellow knew. How much, if anything, did Sarah tell him about their relationship? "That's very good to know. How is K-9?"

"He's fine," John said guardedly. Then he recovered his composure. "Listen, Doctor, I hate to cut this short, but we have got to find Sarah Jane before the Daleks do. I don't suppose you have some idea of why they're here, or why they want her in particular, or maybe," he said, beginning to get just a little bit angry, "how to get rid of them?"

"My goodness, you're almost as inquisitive as Sarah is. To answer your first question, they are probably here for the same reason I am. I detected the presence of another Time Lord a short while ago, and suddenly it's disappeared. I am hoping that means that whoever the Time Lord was, he or she left the planet and got away safely. The only other explanation is that like so many of my fellow Time Lords, he or she has met a very untimely death. If that is the case, I must find the body as quickly as possible. As for why they want Sarah Jane, the explanation for that is because they know if they have her, they can use that against me. Lastly, getting rid of them is always the most difficult task to accomplish I'm afraid."

Tinker seemed to go cold. "You can't stay," he blurted out.

"Well, I'm sorry but I am staying, it's crucial for me to find out what happened to that Time Lord, especially if he's been killed." The Doctor wasn't afraid to challenge this beanpole. Who did he think he was trying to order him around? If Tinker was trying to prove himself to be the better man, the Doctor would soon show him. He took a step towards John and was about to do whatever he needed to to keep him from interfering with his plans.

Lisa Ann didn't notice the look on the Doctor's face; she was too interested in him as a potential new friend. "I'm almost four," she said. "Do you have a little girl, Doctor?"

For a moment, the Doctor had forgotten about Lisa Ann. He knelt down and looked into her eyes. He stared at her for a moment. Her eyes were green, just like Sarah's.

He thought about how often Sarah would look up at him with trust and affection. He always felt that nothing could be too wrong when he saw the love he was sure she felt for him in those eyes. He reached out and stroked the child's soft brown hair. He closed his eyes and it was all he could do to answer her. "No, I don't, but if I did, I'd want her to be just like you," he said softly.

Lisa smiled at his answer. "You're nice, I like you."

"Thank you very much," the Doctor said, smiling at her. Then he turned back to John, a challenge in his eyes.

"Doctor," John said, once again pulling him aside, "if the Daleks are here because they want to force you to do something, then you can't stay here. You have to leave. If you can't detect the Time Lord, then I'm afraid that you may be right that he's perished, and there's simply nothing you can do."

"On the contrary, if he did die, then there's something I MUST do," the Doctor insisted. "I can't leave until I find the body. He could still have time to regenerate and save his life. If he's really perished, then I have to take the body with me when I leave."

"Well … what if you can't find him?" John asked. The Doctor wondered whether that fine layer of perspiration had been there before.

"Then I'll have to stay here till I at least know what happened." Did this man feel threatened by him, the Doctor wondered. If he did, what was the reason? Was he afraid that Sarah would leave him? Perhaps if for no other reason, he should stick around until he found out what was going on.

John nodded, as if deciding that he was just digging himself deeper into a hole. The Doctor filed all of this for later. He'd get to the bottom of it, one way or the other.

"All right," Tinker said, "then what about the Daleks. We have to keep them away from Sarah Jane."

"I agree, there's enough chaos going on now without adding to it," the Doctor said, pulling himself up to his full height and trying to sound as authoritative as possible. "Can I presume then that you have no idea at all where she is right now?"

"When the Daleks attacked, we were buried in the rubble of one of the main buildings," John said hesitantly. "It looked like it was intact where she was, so she might have gotten out, I hope."

"Then that's where I'll start looking. I suggest you get your daughter to someplace safe and stay there. I'm sure once everything is settled you'll be hearing from someone about it." The Doctor set the coordinates for the main building complex.

John took the Doctor by the arm, also pulling himself up to his not inconsiderable height. "Now listen here, Doctor, if you think that you're just going to send us off to hide while you go after Sarah Jane when they're all looking for you, you've got another thing coming. There's a very good chance that you're going to lead them right to her, did you consider that?"

The Doctor stopped and then turned to face John. "The two of us have been in worse danger, Mr. Tinker, and handled it pretty well. Do you think you can face the Daleks down and protect your daughter and Sarah at the same time?"


End file.
